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| Barbados // Photo by Freeimages.com/Gregory Runyan |
Caribbean 360 is reporting that Barbados is the latest Caribbean country to be hit with a travel advisory because of crime.
In a security message for American citizens, the Embassy based in Bridgetown advised of “a recent surge in robberies involving the use of firearms and high levels of violence."
According to the report, the incidents have been directed at local businesses with employers that pay salaries in cash.
Some specific incidents, according to the report, included a mugging in the South Coast community of Hastings, in which multiple assailants violently attacked pedestrians strolling after dark before escaping in a waiting vehicle. There have also been reports of men posing as maintenance workers to gain access to homes, as well as reports of groups of men attempting to lure vehicles into stopping, by pretending to have vehicle troubles or by placing a baby in a car seat by the side of the road, and then beating and robbing the vehicles’ occupants, according to the report.
The Embassy acknowledged that the potential for criminal activity specifically targeting U.S. citizens remains medium to low in Barbados, but advised them to take appropriate steps to enhance their personal security, according to the report.
Last month, the U.K. embassy issued a travel advisory to Trinidad and Tobago after a British-born lawyer Richard Wheeler and his Trinidadian wife Grace were killed at their home in Tobago.
In September, against the backdrop of escalating crime in The Bahamas, the U.S. Department of State issued a warning, following the British and Canadian governments’ advisories the previous month, according to Caribbean 360.
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