The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

A MANHUNT is on for those who robbed the Bahamas Red Cross of nearly $80,000 worth of equipment on Monday.

The incident occurred at The Bahamas Red Cross headquarters on John F Kennedy Drive.

Press liaison Chief Superintendent Chrislyn Skippings said several people breached a northern fence at the Red Cross headquarters on John F Kennedy and entered several containers containing caterpillar generators and power equipment.

She appealed to members of the public to assist police with investigations.

“The Bahamas Red Cross is a non-profit association that seeks to assist Bahamians throughout the length and breadth of this country whenever a disaster hits our country, and so we’re very concerned,” she said.

“We have launched an investigation. It’s going to be ongoing, and so members of the public, if you saw something or you heard something, you have a moral responsibility to contact the Royal Bahamas Police Force, in particular the criminal investigations department, and provide us with any information you may have as relates to who the suspects are in this particular incident.”

Aliesha Pinder, director general of The Bahamas Red Cross, said the situation is frustrating because the organisation cannot assist in a natural disaster after the theft.

“We learned a lot of those items are what we really need in order to be prepared,” she said, adding the items are used to respond to disasters.

“This type of loss really speaks to the nature of people that through selfish measures, I would think, would prevent the support of thousands of Bahamians in the event of a disaster.”

Ms Pinder acknowledged that the non-profit has yet to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We really need these items as coming out of a pandemic, and we say it a lot, we’re not as strong as we actually would like to be,” she said.