A 90-year-old Curepipian was attacked in the public toilets near Jan Pallach station, Curepipe on Monday, May 8, before being robbed of his backpack containing the sum of Rs 28,000, of which Rs 26,000 was his old-age pension that he had just received from the post office. In the wake of this case, Jean Patrick Carino Carlos, a 30-year-old plumber, and Allan Jean Claude Babet, a 40-year-old mason, were arrested. They live respectively in Malherbes, Curepipe and L’Oiseau, Floréal.
Traumatised, it was only at around 6.25pm on Thursday 11 May that the nonagenarian reported this case of street theft to the Curepipe police station. He explained that on Monday 8 May at around 8.15am, he had gone to the post office at the Salaffa complex in Curepipe to collect his retirement pension of Rs 26,000. He said he put his money in a blue coloured bag before going to a public toilet near the Jan Palach railway station. At some point, he felt that he was pushed from behind and he had to find that his bag was gone.
In total, there was the sum of Rs 28,000, his pension card, his national identity card, his bus pass and his metro pass. The total value of the bag is Rs 29,000.
On Thursday 11 May, a police operation led by the Field Intelligence Office in Curepipe and the Criminal Investigation Division led to the arrest of Carino Carlos. He soon confessed his involvement in the theft. On Friday 12 May, a second suspect was arrested, Allan Babet. Both suspects were brought before the court in Curepipe during the day on Friday 12 May, before being returned to the police cell.
