Police officials say they cannot confirm if an incident early last week was in fact an attempt to rob a local bank at gunpoint. The Observer spoke with Police Public Relations Officer Inspector Vaughan Henderson and was told that police responded to an anonymous call made to the Basseterre Police Station that a man was seen in the Independence Square with what looked like a gun. “The call came in around mid-morning that someone saw a man in the Independence Square with what looked like a gun so police responded. Several officers were dispatched and a few young men in that area were stopped and searched but none were found to be in possession of any weapons, nor were any weapons found in the vicinity,” he said. The PRO said because of the proximity of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank to the Independence Square, officers went into the bank to ascertain that no foul play was afoot. “Officers entered the bank and searched several individuals fitting a certain profile from among those persons waiting in line to be served. The young men proved that they were in fact at the bank to do legitimate business. Other persons in line and bank tellers who were on duty were questioned as to whether they had seen any suspicious behavior around that time,” Inspector Henderson informed. Bank officials were also questioned about any attempts to rob the financial establishment and the PRO said all indicated that no such attempt had been made. “Persons seeing police officers in the Independence Square and in the National Bank may have assumed that some robbery attempt was made but no such information was related to the police By any of the individuals questioned.” Although official reports indicate the headquarters of the local bank was not under threat of robbery that day, one of its subsidiary branches remains closed due several such occurrences. The Saddlers branch of the SKNA National Bank ceased operations last year after several successful robberies resulted in bandits making off with undisclosed sums of monies. An attempt had also been made to break into the bank’s Sandy Point branch ATM machine.
