Saipan Hotel, the Northern Marianas Islands. Photo: The Marianas Visitors Authority
Criminality is on the rise on the capital of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) as local police are investigating three incidents of robberies this past weekend, including a robbery where a man was held at gunpoint.
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is currently on the hunt for three people who robbed a man at gunpoint at a San Antonio beach last Sunday.
In an interview with the victim, he claimed that a woman known to him had called him earlier that evening, asking him to buy cellphone load for her. The victim agreed to purchase the load and met the woman at the parking lot of a hotel to give it to her.
Later, as the victim and the woman were parked at San Antonio Beach, she allegedly demanded money from him, to which the victim claimed he did not have.
A few minutes later, the victim said a car parked behind his car and a male and female exited and approached him on the driver side demanding money from him.
However, when the victim told them that he did not have money, the male suspect allegedly pointed a handgun at the victim's head and again demanded for money. He had no choice but yield.
Although the victim was unharmed, the suspects were able to steal his wallet containing $US300, his CNMI driver's license, a Discover credit card, and a Bank of Hawaii debit card.
DPS is also asking the community for help in closing two other robbery cases-the robbery case at the Pacific Postal Plus in Garapan and a break-in at a residence on Capital Hill involving two men.
The two men allegedly broke into the Capital Hill residence in the early hours of October 15 where an 84-year-old man was sleeping.
The two men, described as masked men, allegedly held the elderly man at knifepoint and rummaged his house and were able to steal about $650 and some personal items.
Businesses concerned
Businesses in the past few months lamented the rise in criminality in the past few months.
CNMI's has a total population of just under 50,000. Saipan is the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands where majority of the population.
Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands chair Ivan Quichocho welcomed Saipan Mayor Ramon B. Camacho's recent effort to revive the village watch, considering that petty crimes, especially against tourists, have always been a problem.
"There's some pretty petty crime out there, but what's bad is if it happens to the tourists because they take that and export that to their home.
"So, every dollar we spend to attract them here, only one incident like that can cost us thousands of dollars of damage in doing the opposite of attracting them."
Quichocho suggested that the Department of Public Safety actively patrol the streets, especially at night.