'Cybersecurity incident' shuts down London Drugs stores across Western Canada
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
A U.S. couple whose catamaran was hijacked last week in the Caribbean by three escaped prisoners were presumed dead and likely were thrown into the ocean, police said Monday.
The accounts by police in Grenada and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines were a blow to those who were independently helping search for Ralph Hendry and Kathy Brandel and had hoped they were still alive.
Don McKenzie, police commissioner of the Royal Grenada Police Force, said at a news conference that the three prisoners escaped on Feb. 18 from the South Saint George Police Station. They hijacked the catamaran “Simplicity” on the following day and then headed to St. Vincent, where they were arrested last Wednesday, he said.
“Information suggests that while traveling between Grenada and St Vincent, they disposed of the occupants,” McKenzie said.
McKenzie said he had no conclusive proof that the couple was dead, but cited a “low probability” they were alive.
Hours later, the main spokesman for the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force posted a video saying that while no bodies have been found, the couple is presumed dead based on the investigation so far.
The suspects were being investigated for several criminal acts, including “bodily harm to the couple,” spokesman Junior Simmons said in the brief recorded statement. There were signs of violence on the couple's boat found abandoned in St. Vincent, he said.
“Several items were strewn on the deck and in the cabin, and a red substance that resembles blood was seen on board,” he said.
The nonprofit Salty Dawg Sailing Association has said that Hendry and Brandel were “veteran cruisers” and longtime members of the association, calling them “warm-hearted and capable.”
It said the couple had sailed the yacht in last year’s Caribbean Rally from Hampton, Va., to Antigua, and were spending the winter cruising in the eastern Caribbean.
A son of Hendry and a son of Brandel did not immediately return messages for comment.
A GoFundMe page created to raise money for the couple's family noted that Brandel had recently become a first-time grandmother, and that the sailing community was “shattered” by what happened.
“Kathy and Ralph, experienced adventurers, spent their retirement sailing aboard Simplicity, spending summers in New England and embracing the warmth of Caribbean winters,” the page stated.
McKenzie, Grenada's police commissioner, said a five-person team was sent to St. Vincent to help with the investigation.
After his brief announcement on Monday, McKenzie and other police officials took questions from local media, including one reporter who asked, “Who is really to be blamed for this massive failure to keep these prisoners under the control of the (Royal Grenada Police Force) which has now resulted in this tragedy?”
McKenzie said police have launched an investigation into the escape and are looking into whether it was “a system failure” or a case of a “slip up.”
“All aspects of that investigation are on the table,” he said, adding that the police holding station where the three men were being held has “sufficient safety to prevent an incident like that (from) occurring.”
When the reporter asked why the three men who were arrested remained in a holding cell instead of prison, Vannie Curwen, assistant police commissioner, said the men first had to see a magistrate who would decide whether to grant bail or order them remanded.
The escaped prisoners, Trevon Robertson, a 19-year-old unemployed man; Abita Stanislaus, a 25-year-old farmer; and Ron Mitchell, a 30-year-old sailor; were charged a couple of months ago with one count of robbery with violence. Mitchell also was charged with one count of rape, three counts of attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault and causing harm, police in Grenada said.
Simmons said the three men appeared in court in St. Vincent on Monday and pleaded guilty to four counts each of immigration-related charges, including entering the island as a “prohibited immigrant” with no passport. They are scheduled to be sentenced on those charges in March.
All 79 locations of pharmacy and retail chain London Drugs were shut down Sunday after it was the victim of a “cybersecurity incident.”
Three women diagnosed with HIV after getting 'vampire facial' procedures at an unlicensed medical spa are believed to be the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through a cosmetic procedure using needles.
Elias Lindholm scored 1:02 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks came all the way back to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series on Sunday.
One person was killed in a six-vehicle crash on Highway 400 in Innisfil Friday evening.
Aerial photos posted by Chinese state media on Sunday showed wide devastation in part of the southern city of Guangzhou after a tornado swept through the day before, killing five people, injuring dozens others and damaging more than 140 buildings.
Ontario is introducing a suite of measures that will crack down on cellphone use and vaping in schools.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday described domestic violence as a 'national crisis' after thousands rallied around the country against violence toward women.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Vancouver Canucks when they face the Nashville Predators in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series Sunday.
U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn't order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.