Three persons have been held by police in connection with an early morning robbery yesterday at the Linden Regional Democratic Council (RDC) office, from where millions were taken.
According to a police press release, three men, one of whom was armed with a firearm, gained entry into the RDC office at Republic Avenue, Mackenzie, Linden and took away $5.4 million in cash and a number of cheques.
Investigations revealed that the perpetrators held the security guard at gunpoint and took away the keys to the building, after which they entered the office, torched the safe and removed a canister containing the cash and cheques.
According to reports from sources within the RDC, the bandits approached the security guard on the Republic Avenue side of the building and after ordering him to lie on the floor of the guard hut, they sought out and removed the keys for the sub-treasury department. Usually the keys would be lodged at the police station but they were not yesterday for unknown reasons.
Regional Chairman Mortimer Mingo, in a statement, said the cash taken by the bandits included the entire payroll for the RDC’s employees, whose salaries are not paid through banking arrangements in Sub-Region 2, Kwakwani/Berbice River. As a consequence, employee payments are now on hold. “The Regional Democratic Council of Region 10 extends regrets for the inconvenience that this situation has created for these employees, and urges anyone with information that could lead to recovery of these funds or solving of this crime to make contact with the nearest police station,” Mingo stated.
The treasury department is at the ground level of the two-storey building and an official explained that before reaching the safe the bandits had to pass two other safes, which were both untouched. The official also indicated that while what appeared to be a blowtorch was used to open the safe, it was not cut right through, suggesting that the robbers knew part of the combination.
Once in the safe, the robbers removed over $5M in cash and $3M in cheques before escaping on foot.
As the safe was being emptied, one of the robbers remained with the security guard in the hut. The guard reported to the police that earlier in the evening he observed two male employees of the office in the vicinity of the building along with their girlfriends.
