(By Ernesto Cooke) – With a possible outbreak of COVID-19 in the evacuation shelters on the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines, its government says there will be no space for criminals to operate.
Some four thousand persons are registered in government shelters and six thousand in private homes.
The islands Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said the history of disasters had taught us not just in St Vincent, but also elsewhere. that security challenges will develop.
Gonsalves said reports by the country’s security forces revealed that two individuals had arrived by boat at a particular location on the island’s Leeward side.
“We intercepted two persons, through intelligence, they were at one of the communities that were evacuated, the intelligence was that they were to burglarized homes and take valuables”.
Gonsalves said the stolen items were to be placed on a vessel for another country where they would be sold.
“The security forces were looking for four persons. However, two is in custody; we did not find anything with those two”.
Gonsalves says the security forces are trying to develop even better intelligence in these circumstances.
Gonsalves said if needs be, he will get reinforcement, saying the government will not allow such persons any space to function.
La Soufriere erupted explosively on 9th April 2021 at 8.41 am; continuous explosions have rocked the island since then.
On Thursday, 15th April, UWI SRC said current explosions are less energetic with long periods between events.
