Published On:Tuesday, August 31, 2010

By MEGAN REYNOLDS

Tribune Staff Reporter

mreynolds@tribunemedia.net

HARBOUR Island officers who guarded the cell of prisoner Avelino Avila Tomas will be investigated as police continue to search for answers about the Cuban Spanish Wells resident's escape last weekend.

Spanish Wells residents say it would have been impossible for Avila to break out of the jail cell alone as no man could fit through the single barred window. They say the only way out would be the front door.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Glenn Miller confirmed yesterday that officers who were guarding the North Eleuthera jail cell will be questioned as part of the ongoing investigation.

Chief Inspector Roston Moss took charge of operations in Harbour Island in February to combat crime in one of the world's most sought-after tourist destinations.

Mr Miller said: "The matter is being investigated and of course an investigation of the police officers is a part of that investigation."

A nationwide manhunt was launched after Avila disappeared from the Harbour Island station some time after 11pm on Sunday, September 22, and he was still on the run as The Tribune went to press last night.

Officers arrested Avila in connection with a suspected arson attack on a Complete Marine Services barge which had been chartered by Avila's former employer Island Block and Concrete to ship construction materials and equipment to a worksite in Exuma.

Fire erupted on the boat, docked in Spanish Wells harbour, at around 3am on Saturday, September 21.

It is estimated to have caused $200,000 to $300,000 worth of damage to the equipment loaded onboard.

Police confronted Avila at his Spanish Wells home that afternoon and confiscated two licensed shotguns belonging to the Cuban as they took him into custody for questioning.

Avila has lived on the two-mile-long island with his wife Melisa, formerly Pinder, for almost a decade, and is well known in the community of around 1,500 residents. Mrs Pinder was taken into custody by around 10 police officers who confronted her at The Islander Shop in Spanish Wells where she works on Tuesday last week.

She was questioned at the Governor's Harbour police station on mainland Eleuthera for around 24 hours before she was released without charge.

Police officers from New Providence were sent out to Eleuthera to assist with the investigation last week. These investigations are still ongoing, Mr Miller said.

Any information which may assist the police should be reported as a matter of urgency by calling the emergency line on 919, the Central Detective Unit (CDU) on 502-9991 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 328-TIPS (8477).