Man allegedly uses stolen $2m to buy bus

WESTERN BUREAU:

The St James police have arrested a man in connection with an incident in which he reportedly fleeced his employer, a Chinese national, of cash amounting to just over $2 million.

A senior officer told The Gleaner that the police are not yet able to release the identity of the accused man, who has not yet been charged. The officer, nonetheless, revealed that he is of a Glendevon address in Montego Bay.

According to reports, the Chinese national, who is also a building contractor, securely locked up a large amount of cash inside his office between the last week of January and Tuesday of this week. When he went to check on the money, which he intended to use to transact business, he discovered it was gone. The cash was broken down as follows: $US15,000 and J$100,000.

For reasons unknown, the businessmen confronted the accused man, who is the only employee with access to that area, and he denied knowing anything about the stolen cash. A report was made to the police and, following an investigation, the accused man confessed to the police that he was the one who actually stole the cash.

US$500 Recovered

Further checks revealed that he had already used up most of the stolen cash, but returned US$500 to the police. He also pointed the police to a new seven-seater Toyota motor vehicle, which he said he brought with a portion of the stolen cash.

A senior investigator told The Gleaner that this incident is yet another case of a Chinese national failing to properly secure a large sum of cash. He used the opportunity to issue a warning to other business operators to make good arrangements to secure their money.

“This is another instance where a Chinese national failed to safely secure a large sum of cash. Over recent months, we have seen where a number of these Chinese business operators failed to secure large sums of cash through the right channel, and their own carelessness has cost them dearly,” the lawman said.

“In this instance, the businessman is very fortunate because the police acted swiftly in apprehending the perpetrator, and, although the cash has not been recovered in notes, the vehicle was purchased straight from a car mart, which is known to us. So it is safe to say the businessman can actually retrieve most of the stolen cash.”

The St James police say the parish has recorded five robberies since the start of the year, which is significant with respect to the 10 committed over the corresponding period last year.

Hopeton Bucknor