Police are still hunting the robbers who invaded Engineering Construction Cooperative (ECC) on Tuesday escaping with several million worth of booty in a boat along the Demerara River.
ECC, a senior police source told Stabroek News yesterday afternoon, was invaded by gunmen, who were reportedly masked, early Tuesday morning. The business place, the source explained, is located on the western side of the East Bank Public Road at Friendship and “its property extends right out to the Demerara River”.
The gunmen entered ECC’s property from the rear via the river. Two security guards on duty at the time were subdued by the men, beaten then tied and gagged before being locked in the room.
Investigations, the source said, revealed that the building’s telephone lines and security system were disabled. It is believed that after the security guards were “dealt with” the gunmen proceeded to cut the phone lines and disarm the alarm system which protected the building.
Police have since learnt from the guards, who have already given statements; that the gunmen stayed at the location for several hours. The attackers, this newspaper learnt, broke into the main building and fetched away various pieces of machinery; computers and ancillary devices; and other electronics.
While the source could not give an estimated value of ECC’s loss it was said to be in the millions.
“Up to this afternoon [yesterday] checks were still being made to see exactly what was stolen and there isn’t yet a figure but so far the value of items discovered missing has amounted to millions,” the source reported.
The men after stacking their transport with as much as it could carry headed out on the Demerara River during the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Several hours later, when other employees showed up for work, the invasion was discovered.
Various items, which the intruders perhaps did not have space to transport, were abandoned at the river side.
Efforts made to contact ECC for a comment were futile. Meanwhile, up to press time police were still to issue a statement regarding the incident.