Gunmen rob another bank in Westmoreland

For the second time in just under seven months, armed robbers posing as customers have carried out a multimillion-dollar robbery at a banking institution in Whitehouse, Westmoreland.

The latest incident took place at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Community and Workers of Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union branch.

Reports by the police are that six men wearing masks entered the establishment, and held the security guard, tellers and other employees at gunpoint.

THE STAR also learnt that the men then robbed the establishment of cash amounting to more than J$5 million, before escaping with the cash, surveillance system, and the security guard's firearm. No one was injured.

Head of the Westmoreland police, Superintendent Robert Gordon, said the police are hot on the trail of the gunmen who escaped in two waiting motor cars.

"What we are really looking at is that criminals are venturing into small communities where they target financial institutions and other places of business that have cash turnover, because they find those areas as soft targets," he said. "We are asking business operators of all different levels to be mindful of these criminals who, from time to time, will come in posing as customers, and put in place all the necessary security mechanisms. Because while there was a security guard, it was only one, and you have six men armed with guns. So the risk level there to put up a challenge was very high."

Gordon added that the business owners need to have their surveillance equipment in places where they are not easily accessible by these criminals, because it's now the norm for them to take away the surveillance system to cover their tracks.

Gordon said the police have now stepped up their covert operations within the Whitehouse business district, to mitigate against any other occurrence.

Last July, gunmen robbed the Jamaica National Bank outlet in Whitehouse, and made off with J$3.5 million. Earlier this year, armed men posing as customers went to the Courts Ready Cash outlet in Negril, also in Westmoreland, and robbed the tellers of an undetermined sum of cash. Those robbers also stole the outlet's surveillance system.