A MAJOR MOTOR vehicle stealing ring in which Toyota Hiace buses are targeted and robbed, was cracked by police recently and four men, believed to be important players in the ring, arrested.
Police investigations have so far unearthed that at least 20 of these buses have been stolen in the St. Andrew Central Police Division, where the ring is operated.
After being stolen the buses are sold to unsuspecting persons or scrapped and their parts sold.
The areas where the buses are reportedly targeted are Half-Way Tree, Cross Roads, Matilda's Corner and August Town. Police have declined to release the names of the men as they are to face identification parades and may be slapped with other charges.
Police
investigations revealed that the men in custody may have been involved in stealing 18 of the 20 buses last year.
"Our intelligence suggests that these men were responsible for the theft of Hiace buses in the Half-way Tree area for most of last year," said Acting Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), McCarthy Sutherland in charge of crime for the division.
Police say the modus operandi of the men was to reportedly hold up their victims with handguns before escaping in the stolen vehicle. In some cases, the police said, cash, cellphones and other valuables were taken along with the vehicles.
The police said the men were held by policemen from the St. Andrew South Division in Pembroke Hall, St. Andrew, last year after a car in which they were travelling was stopped and searched. The police said a gun was found in the vehicle and all four men were arrested and charged.
The police say they have so far scheduled identification parades for the men with the view of making arrests.
"The ID Parade that we had they were not pointed out but we have several others scheduled as people are coming forward in relation to the robberies," he said.
Although the men were held in the St. Andrew South area, THE STAR was unable to ascertain if they were involved in the thefts of any buses in the St. Andrew South Division.
"We have robberies of motor vehicles in our divisions from time to time but it is not specific to just minibuses. We have arrested people in the division for stealing motor vehicles but we can't specifically say they were stealing only Hiace buses," said St. Andrew South Crime Chief, DSP Michael Phipps.
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