WESTERN BUREAU – The quick response of the police yesterday led to the arrest of two of three men who lawmen say stole almost $300,000 from Tropical Travel Service at Sunshine Plaza in Montego Bay.

The stolen money – a combination of Jamaican and US currency – was recovered while Phillip “Parry” Ellis, whom cops identified as a security guard employed to Guardsman Ltd, and Pete Barton, a labourer, were charged with robbery with aggravation. One of the men was cornered and held along Howard Cooke Boulevard and the other held in bushes near the popular night spot, Pier One.

After the robbery, the travel agency closed its doors for the rest of the day.

Cops said the 24 year-old Ellis gave his addresses as Lot 137 Woodstock Bay, Portland and 14 King Street in Montego Bay. Barton is from 12 1/2 Upper King Street in the western resort city, an inner-city community popularly called Canterbury.

Yesterday after the men were held, members of the St James police division and the Special Anti-Crime Task Force spent hours searching bushes near the shoreline along Howard Cooke Boulevard. They were trying to find the third man and weapons which they believed the armed robbers had hidden.

The police also searched rocks along the shoreline at Pier One, conducted a spot check at the entrance of the facility and searched most of the vehicles as they were leaving the popular entertainment complex.

Curious onlookers who converged on the scene after the capture of the two men openly expressed disappointment that the lawmen had not killed the suspected thieves.

“I am so sorry the police did not kill at least one of them,” a taximan told the Observer.

He had been the victim of a robbery, he said, and had an aversion to thieves.

According to the Constabulary Communication Network’s liaison officer for St James, Constable Camille Tracey, at about 9:30 am, three men posing as customers entered the travel agency.

Tracey said the men held onto their pockets – a gesture which the occupants of the store interpreted to mean that they were armed – and demanded that the employees hand over money or be killed. The hold-up men were handed J$163,500 and US$605 in cash, as well as cheques totalling J$15,000 and US$1,150. They then ran from the building in the direction of the nearby Harbour Street Craft Market.

“Mi see when t’ree man run across the road (Harbour Street) and run in the direction of the craft market,” an eyewitness told the Observer. “And I see when a police officer point di gun pon the big fat one and tell him fi put him hand in the air. The other two run across the road (Howard Cooke Boulevard) in the bush near Pier One.”

Detective Corporal Lesga Miller, who is stationed in Trelawny, was near the scene of the robbery and held the first suspected robber. The other man was held after more lawmen arrived on the scene.