The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police Solomon Cash said yesterday that most homicides occurring in the country are because of conflicts or people who want to control drug turfs.

ACP Cash, with officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU), held a press briefing on the latest crime trends.

While addressing the media, ACP Cash said police have solved the majority of the homicides which occurred this year. They are following some significant leads with policing identifying a suspect in connection with the most recent killing in Pinewood.

Homicides were mainly concentrated in the south central area of New Providence — Bain Town and the Grove area.

“We found that most of these homicides are because of conflicts. It appears as if persons don’t let things go and they (are) always hell bent on retaliating,” ACP Cash said.

“We also can say that most of these homicides are occurring because of people who want to control turfs and small territories within the city for the sale of drugs and that as I mean they don’t want any competition from their illegal operations. So, we find that’s fueling a lot of the revenge and retaliation also outside of conflicts.”

Although officials could not say at the moment how this year’s murder count compared to last year so far, the murder count appears to be higher in 2021 according to The Tribune’s record. The Bahamas saw 14 homicides around this time in 2020 while the count is at 24 homicides thus far in 2021.

The Grove, Englerston as well as Bain Town areas were identified as where the majority of shooting incidents occurred this year. According to ACP Cash, most of the victims were not strangers.

He explained: “We have noticed that in these shooting incidents most of the victims are associates. So much to say that we suspect that some of the victims are involved in gang activities, but I can say that thus far the investigation has concluded to a point where there are several individuals we are looking for that we suspect may be responsible for several of these incidents.

“With the armed robbery matters, similarly we’ve noticed that most of the armed robberies are occurring within the south central division. Again that is the Grove and the Englerston areas. We’ve also noticed that there are several armed robberies occurring at small convenience stores and the additional ones are occurring on the streets.”

Head of CID Chief Superintendent Shanta Knowles later gave safety advice for the public to mitigate threats. She said companies should ensure CCTV is working and advised employees against making bank deposits.

Meanwhile, head of the DEU, Chief Superintendent Roberto Goodman revealed the unit has been observing over the past three years the increase of edible marijuana now infused in food items.

He called it “deceptive” the way people are infusing these types of drugs in candies, cookies, brownies, and different types of cereals.

Chief Superintendent Goodman highlighted that young people have got their hands on these items.

“Our studies and our history have proven that in the schools we have young persons now engaging in using these items that have assembled here for y’all to see today,” he said, surrounded by some of the marijuana items.

Grand Bahama police reported earlier this week of a similar situation and warned residents of “the deceptive and illegal” distribution of marijuana edibles in packages that can be mistaken for legitimate snack product brands.