The five men, who were arrested on suspicion of robbery in connection with the incident at the Mini Mart in Blossom Village, Little Cayman, on 26 November, have been released on police bail while enquiries continue.

The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) confirmed that all five men are Caymanian nationals aged 20, 27, 27, 29 and 40 years.

It was a joint operation involving the RCIPS Air and Marine Units that led to the arrest of the five Little Cayman robbery suspects.

About 3.30pm on Tuesday (26) the RCIPS helicopter, which had deployed with armed officers on board, spotted a modified canoe approximately 25 miles off East End, Grand Cayman.

The helicopter crew coordinated an intercept of the canoe by the Marine Unit’s Guardian. The canoe, with the five men on board, tried to evade Guardian by changing course several times at speed. However, the combination of the helicopter hovering ahead and the tenacity of the Guardian crew led to the suspects stopping the boat in the water.

Marine officers boarded the canoe and arrested the men on suspicion of robbery.

Earlier that day at about 1.10pm, police had received a report that five men had entered the Mini Mart in Blossom Village, Little Cayman. A number of the men were armed with what appeared to be firearms. They stole the cash pan from the store, ran off and boarded what was described as a ‘fast vessel’ and headed out to sea.

No shots were fired and no one was injured.

Robberies are rare on Little Cayman that only has a population of just under 150 persons.

However, it was only a few weeks earlier when local businessman Perry McLaughlin was found murdered in what appeared to be a domestic dispute at his home in Gazebo Lane, on Little Cayman.  Elsy Patricia Calderon de Ortega Barralga (28) has been charged with his killing. She has pleaded ‘not guilty’. She will stand trial in March.