Nearly one year after the armed robbery of Rs 51.8 million in the main vault of the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), one of the main suspects has finally been arrested. Although Laval Sambacaille gave some details about the way the plot was hatched and executed, the way the customer service supervisor, Gérald Lagesse, died, is still unknown.

From Sambacaille?s questioning and information they could gather, the police now think that the main suspect sent most of the loot to Switzerland. He has friends and relatives there and he could have entrusted the money to one of them to put on an account there. In fact, the police had information that one of his relatives flying to Geneva had a large amount of money in his luggage but the search did not give any result and he was able to catch his plane.

However, the police have not given up the theory that Sambacaille could have sent the money abroad. As soon as he was arrested, he said that part of the loot was given to Wesley Jean?s sister so that she could take it to Geneva. But Wesley Jean, who was arrested, questioned and released, asserted that his sister refused to take the money from Sambacaille?s wife, as she did not know what there was in the parcel.

<B>Hold-up organised from central prison</B>

Even if Sambacaille admitted he took part in the hold-up, he denied that he organised it and declared he only obtained Rs 5 million as his share.

According to this habitual criminal, the hold-up had been organised from the central prison of Beau-Bassin. He gave the name of a persistent offender from Rose-Hill as the ?master-mind?. Sambacaille made it clear that Jiawed Ruhumatally, one suspect, was his contact outside prison and suggested that he should take part in the operation. The amount of money he would get had presumably been decided well before D-Day.

The main suspect in the hold-up was arrested last Monday in Port-Louis. The police had received information that he would be there,as he had an appointment with a lawyer. Around nine, a police operation led to his arrest. He did not offer any resistance and said he would cooperate with the police. ?Some people have not been honest with me?, he said as soon as he was arrested.

More than one year after this hold-up, the public ? especially Gérald Lagesse?s family and the bank staff ? still do not know what happened. This arrest was really important as it should help to provide some information about the huge sum of money that has vanished into thin air and especially the reasons for the death of the customer service supervisor.

The enquiry has so far led to the arrest of Jiawed Ruhumatally, Steve Monvoisin, Satroojeetsing Satrooghan and Poovaden Subburoyan ? also known as Vinessen. They were all provisionally accused of murder and hold-up but the accusation was modified for Vinesen and Satrooghan who are now accused of conspiracy. Satrooghan has always denied his involvement saying that he only lent his vehicle.

The questioning of Laval Sambacaille continues concerning all those he has mentioned as his accomplices in the fraud or while he was on the run. So far, every suspect arrested has been passing the buck to another concerning Gérald Lagesse?s death but we have to hope this week will shed some light on the circumstances of that crime.