Criminal activities during the period July 15 to 22 totaled a staggering 19 including seven thefts and four burglaries.
The thefts occurred in North Valley, Welches, South Hill, Wallblake, The Quarter and The Valley. Items stolen included gas cylinder fittings, a data map, a Black Berry and a Motorola cell phone.

Burglaries occurred in South Hill, West End and Captains Bay, and items stolen were a lady’s hand bag, a gold chain, digital cameras, computers, televisions, deep freezers, household items and cash. There were also two attempted burglaries in Long Bay and Island Harbour and an equal number of robberies in George Hill and The Valley.

There were four reports made to police of criminal damage that occurred in North Side, Blowing Point, South Hill and The Valley.

Seven arrests were made, for the week, including two males to prevent a breach of the peace, two males on suspicion of theft, one male for disorderly conduct, one male for burglary and one male for breach of curfew.
There were eight traffic accidents for the period.

Man Gets Forty-five Days in Jail

On Monday July 20, Pablo Pena of The Valley appeared before the Magistrate Court on charges of throwing missiles and assault. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 45 days in prison.

Armed Robbers on the Loose

Inspector Emris Rogers revealed that L.R. of George Hill reported to Police Headquarters that, at about 9:15 pm on Friday July 17, two masked men who broke into her home at George Hill and robbed her at gunpoint.

The robbers took off with her cell phone and a sum of cash. According to Rogers, no arrests have been made but police are carrying out investigations into the matter.

The Inspector reported that, at about 11:00 pm on Tuesday July 21, three men on pedal cycles assaulted and robbed S.C. of Rock Farm while he was walking on the main road next to the MAICO Building in The Valley.
The robbers took his wallet and a gold hand chain. No arrests have been made and police are carrying out investigations into the matter.

Police requested that persons with any information regarding these robberies, or any other crime, should contact Detective Inspector Rogers at 476-3475 or give the information to any Police Officer of their choice. Police were also asking persons to be on the lookout for persons selling stolen goods and to report such action to them immediately.

Police town meetings Continue in South Hill

Following a meeting with The Valley and South Valley communities, the next stop for the Royal Anguilla Police Force was South Hill.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Illidge Richardson, said that a few weeks ago Police accepted an invitation to a meeting by The Valley community to discuss plans leading up to the Summer Festival. He remarked that community members were generally supportive and were able to make suggestions although some were critical. He indicated that he felt the community saw the police officer in a good light but they (the police) were not doing enough.

The South Hill meeting was planned for Wednesday July 22 at 4:30 pm. Richardson expected to hear the concerns of the community and to engage in information sharing. He hoped that this proactive approach would help to result in a more peaceful Carnival. “What the young people in particular are doing…they are putting the Anguillian public in a sort of fear, and we can’t allow young people [to do that]. We are looking to see if we can neutralize that as much as we can,” he said.

Detective Confident in Anguilla’s CFATF Evaluation

Detective Andy Arsenault informed the media that the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) was conducting its evaluation of Anguilla. Describing the exercise as "long awaited," Arsenault stated that the team was from other Caribbean nations and were interviewing a number of persons and institutions. These included the Attorney General’s Office, the Acting Governor, the Minister of Finance, the Director of the Financial Services Commission, the Financial Investigation Unit in the Royal Anguilla Police Force (and the Commissioner of Police) along with the Heads of the Criminal Investigations Department and the Drugs and Firearms Task Force.

Other interviewees would be the Comptroller of Customs, the Chief of Immigration and regulatory bodies for banking and securities. Compliance Officers for Banks and Trust Companies, Domestic and International Banks, Securities Trading Groups and Domestic Insurance companies also made the list of interviewees.
The list further included Domestic and Offshore Insurance Companies, Insurance Brokers and Agents, Mutual Fund Managers, Credit Unions and Telecommunications Companies.

Arsenault indicated that all the information from the interviews would form part of the report on how Anguilla was doing in its Institutional Framework (including legislation) for Financial Services, and about its ability to combat Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. The main aim is to asses if Anguilla’s legislation was sufficient to combat both domestic and international Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

Mr. Arsenault was confident that Anguilla and its local institutions were ready for the evaluation. He said there were public forums and private sector meetings to discuss the evaluation prior to the team’s arrival. He added that the meetings were “relatively well attended” but there were “some disappointment...We didn’t get the attendance we had hoped for but there was a broad base of interest.” He stressed that he was very confident in the capability of Anguilla’s ‘Intelligence Sector.’

“I think [when] we receive intelligence we know how to treat the intelligence and we treat it with the utmost of confidentiality,” he said. “How we handle that is very important in the eyes of the Evaluation Team. So I am satisfied that we have done a good job and will continue to do a good job on the Intelligence side. Equally, I think our capacity to conduct major financial investigations is also very good on Anguilla.”

When the evaluation is completed, Anguilla expects to receive a report, and any recommendations, in early October. The Government then has one month to respond after which the report will be put before the Plenary of the regional organization early next year.

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