Editorial: Criminal dunces

When we heard the news, we could do nothing but shake our heads. Two Canadian cruise passengers and their tour guide were robbed at Deep Bay. The report stated that the visitors were swimming, unsuspectingly, just a few feet away from the carjacking of their tour guide, a crime which also led to the theft of their passports.
After hearing that the tourists and their guide were safe and unharmed physically, we could only think, “Who does something like that?” Crime is a terrible thing, but it is particularly despicable when we commit these types of acts against people we invite to our country, our home.  
Thankfully, our guests were completely unaware of what was going on because this confrontation could have resulted in a much different story if they had challenged the two pin-head, cowardly, masked gun-men who accosted their tour guide. And luckily, he or she, acted calm and allowed the criminal terrorists to leave without harming anyone.  
Tourism is our bread and butter in this country, so this is akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. What do these fools think happens when the story spreads across the world? Fewer people come, and there is less money in the country. To put it bluntly, maybe in a way that these imbeciles can understand, there will be less money, cars and property to steal when this gets out. Yes, we said it. We used the word “imbeciles.” And we suspect that we could use the word deracinated as well, because it seems that these thieves have uprooted themselves from some hole and have no use for our culture and serenity.  
The police are currently investigating the robbery and are appealing to anyone who has any information that may be of help to call Gray’s Farm Police Station or the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). As we have said many times before, somebody always knows something, and it is time that we stop facilitating these economic terrorists by staying quiet.  
Meanwhile, the poor tourists are left in a bit of a quandary. Aside from other valuables, the tourists’ passports were stolen when the carjackers made off with the tour guide’s vehicle. That leaves them without proper travel documents to conclude their trip.
According to the Cruise Tourism Association (CTA) president, Nathan Dundas, if the stolen passports are not returned or recovered, the couple may have trouble entering the U.S. at their final port of call, Florida. The couple’s travel is now dependent on a police report, which Dundas has asked to be expedited. So the inconvenience for this couple continues, and you can bet that they will tell the story to anyone close enough to listen. And they will tell two friends, and they will tell two friends, and so on and so on. Let’s not even talk about the impact of social media as they share the story with friends and their friends share the story with friends, and so on and so on.
Come on. The country is having a hard enough time as it is, without these two criminal buffoons making things worse. We sure hope that something good comes out of this. Maybe we will have increased police patrols at beaches and strategic sites around the country, as Mr. Dundas has been requesting. Maybe a hotel and an airline can team up to host this Canadian couple and show them that these two criminal dunces are not representative of our people and that our bit of paradise does indeed offer a safe, tranquil getaway.
And maybe, just maybe, someone who knows something will step forward and contact the authorities and help take these two misguided fools off of the streets. Remember, this does not require you to reveal your identity. You can provide the information anonymously via the TIP hotline or take the low-tech option and write a letter or two. Address them to the commissioner of police and the CID. We are fairly sure that you need only put the commissioner’s name or title on the envelope and the post office will get it to him. Same with the CID.
As a tourist destination, in a highly competitive world, we cannot allow these types of acts to happen and, when they do, we need to swiftly stomp out the criminal element that seeks to destroy our key revenue stream and, in turn, our way of life.
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