“Shelly! Shelly! You alright, girl? I could have come and rescued you. I saw you on all the media.”

It was a common refrain among passers-by and customers yesterday, after they spotted Chaguanas resident Latisha Noreiga, owner of Shelly’s Doubles, on the Brian Lara Promenade, Port of Spain. She took the picong and good-natured banter in stride, and said: “That’s good. Plenty people from around the world will come and buy.”

News had spread like wildfire around Wednesday’s incident, in which two officers were seen removing items from Noreiga’s stall around 4 p.m.