Three Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) workers, who entered the agency’s Quamina Street, Georgetown headquarters just before cameras were disabled and fuel markers were stolen last Saturday, have been arrested.
The three workers, who are attached to another location, were arrested on Monday after investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage that showed them acting suspiciously.
Stabroek News was told by a source that while the actual theft was not captured, the workers were seen entering the GEA compound around 9 pm last Friday, before cameras were disabled for almost two hours.
This newspaper was again unable to make contact with GEA Head Mahender Sharma, whose secretary said he was out and later said that he had returned but was unavailable. Sharma also failed to return calls to this newspaper although numbers were left and promises were made that they would be relayed to him.
Meanwhile, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, when contacted yesterday morning, said that police are continuing to work on the case.
A police source subsequently told this newspaper that one of those in custody is a technician/engineer.
According to the source, the camera footage showed when a car with the three employees arrived and stopped in front of the gate on Friday night, just after 9. After blowing for a few minutes and seeing no guard, one of the men exited the vehicle and opened the gates allowing the car to drive in.
The guard, according to the source, was at some other part of the compound. It was noted that when the guard eventually saw the car and the men, he closed the gates. The source said that the guard was not suspicious of the men because “employees go in and out all the time.” The cameras showed when the guard returned to the front of the compound and closed the gates.
After entering the compound, this newspaper was told the technician/engineer headed straight for the building, while the car with the men headed to the container. When the car stopped one of the two occupants came out and opened the truck.
“Seventeen past nine the camera just shut off. When it came back, it was two minutes after eleven and it showed the technician exiting the gate. The car had already left”, the source said.
The break in and theft were discovered when employees attached to the headquarters arrived to collect fuel markers to begin their work at Georgetown and out of town locations. It was explained to Stabroek News that the perpetrators tampered with the padlock set up on the container to gain entry.
The guard told investigators that there was no power failure at the facility and therefore the cameras had to have been disabled manually.
The source said it was clear that the theft was an inside job.
GEA is the only entity that possesses fuel markers and as a result fuel smugglers are often desperate to get their hands on them, the source added. It was also noted that stolen fuel markers are sold for a very high price.
The fuel markers are used by GEA to mark fuel so that officers can detect smuggled fuel.
