PRODUCTION on two new Pirates of the Caribbean films, starring Keira Knightley, has been halted because of raids by real-life brigands, according to reports from the Bahamas.

Two cast members have been forced to flee for their lives after a series of robberies at the Grand Bahama island location, producers of the Disney film said.

Knightley is starring with Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp in two sequels to the £500 million-grossing first film, which are being shot back-to-back in the Bahamas.

Jason Kakebeen, head of location production, said: “We have had a slew of robberies on the actors who are working for Pirates of the Caribbean over at the Port Lucaya resort.

“They [the robbers] were able to get into the room with a key and stole everything from laptops, passports, cheques and other equipment. The money they stole was actually the actors’ pay cheques.”

Some actors and crew members have been robbed four times in a month. The last incident happened on November 11. It is claimed that $20,000 (£11,500) in cash and equipment was taken.

Mr Kakebeen, chief executive of Jemini Seven Entertainment, declined to say whether any of the film’s stars had been targeted. But he said that two actors had left the island in fear of their lives as a result of the robberies. The equipment and cast losses have brought production to a standstill.

Police and the Bahamas Film and Television Commission are investigating the allegations. Film production provides valuable income for the islands but Mr Kakebeen predicted that leading US studios would pull future productions if robberies could not be prevented.

The Pirates shoot ran into controversy earlier this year when members of the Carib tribe on the island of Dominica accused Disney of perpetuating the myth that locals were cannibals. A scene in which Depp’s Captain Sparrow is tied to a skewer with vegetables and roasted on a spit “like a shish kebab” provoked calls for local people working as extras to boycott the filming. Nevertheless, hundreds of Grand Bahama residents have signed up to work as £50-a-day extras, answering a call for “sailors, pirates and Asian seamen”. Filming on the sequels was due to be completed next month with a July 2006 release date already booked for the first film, subtitled Dead Man’s Chest. Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann is again swept up in Captain Jack’s rip-roaring adventures, wrecking her wedding plans with Bloom’s Will. The final film will be released in 2007.

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