Fourth pirate suspect arrested

Police yesterday arrested a fourth suspect of the recent robbery at sea between Ngella and Guadalcanal last month.

So far this is the fourth suspect arrested by police in relation to the robbery incident which occurred on the 20th of January.

The suspect is a forty year old man, driver of the boat carrying the two Asian businessmen whom thieves robbed around three hundred thousand dollars from.

Police Commissioner Matthew Varley said during the early stages of their investigation, it was indicated that he was a victim of the robbery and that he was assaulted.

Mr Varley says as the investigation progressed, they now allege that he was part of the scheme to carry out the robbery.

He said the man was charged with one count of robbery pursuant to section 2093 of the penal code, and has appeared before the Honiara Central Magistrate court today.

” Information at that time was that the two businessmen were driven on a small boat by a local man from Honiara to Tulaghi, at the time the driver of the boat was assaulted,” he said.

“But at this stage we believe he was involved in the operation and colluded with the robbers.”

Mr Varley appeals to people around the country to be vigilant when carrying large amount of cash at sea.

” The message I would say clearly is that people are aware of businessmen moving around the country with money, and obviously that creates a security risk ” he said.

” First and foremost, we need to remember that people are out there doing business and carrying large amounts of money, they need to take some sort of security precautions.”

By: Lowen Sei.