On Wednesday, 18th December 2013 two Caymanian males ages forty-eight and fifty-three were arrested by officers of the RCIPS Drugs & Serious Crime Task Force on suspicion of “bomb hoax”. One male was later charged with the offence of “bomb hoax.” He is scheduled to appear in court on Friday (20), The other male was released.

Police, fire, EMC 911 personnel and management of the Ritz-Carlton and the Caribbean Club have since met and reviewed this past weekend’s bomb threat which saw both the Ritz-Carlton and the Caribbean Club initiate a full scale evacuation of their establishments. The meeting was intended to improve upon how police and other emergency staff can work with and compliment these arrangements.

The hotel staff at both venues reacted and implemented their emergency procedures preceding the arrival of emergency services and did so efficiently and effectively.

Commissioner David Baines of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service stated, “it is clear both venues and their staff had comprehensive plans in place, trained their staff effectively and the weekend’s events demonstrated the effectiveness of their plans and staff training”.

Chief Superintendent Kurt Walton said, “the hoax bomb threat resulted in considerable police and other emergency resources being deployed, as well as the ensuing police investigation that led to the arrest of the two men; there was also significant impact to the two tourist establishments that had a combined guests of several hundred not including staff. As a consequence, we take this very seriously and even though the threat was a hoax this should not diminish the seriousness of the crime that is punishable on conviction to a fine of ten thousand dollars and to imprisonment for ten years pursuant to section 206 of the Penal Code (2010 Revision)”.