Despite over $1 million in cash and items being carted off right in front of their eyes by three men armed with knives, elderly watchmen performing security duties at the Mon Repos Market looked on helplessly.
Four stalls of the market located on the East Coast of Demerara were broken into and this latest incident has sparked renewed calls by stall holders for the Market’s Council to have better security mechanisms in place since this is not the first such occurrence.
Speaking to Stabroek News, Narendra Puran, a stall holder at the market said that he has been vending for some time now and this is the second time he has suffered losses at the hands of thieves. He added that there has never been an investigation by the relevant authorities into the robberies and as such the perpetrators of these crimes keep committing them.
He said that the first time he was robbed, the bandits gained entry into his stall by removing locks from his door and carted off jewellery and other items. This, he said, forced him to better secure his business place but once again he is counting his losses. He said it appears that this time the men gained entry to his stall through the ceiling. He added that because of the extent of the grillwork the men forced their hands through the spaces grabbing whatever was in their reach. Puran’s neighbour’s stall was also entered from the ceiling.
Puran’s neighbour Anita Persaud said that she grew up in the market and vending there is her only revenue source as a single mother. This is her fourth experience of being robbed. She said that should this trend continue she will be forced to find another means of earning to take care of herself and family.
“If I deh here for two more years and this continues happening then I won’t be able to maintain my family” the evidently distraught woman added.
Persaud said that the vendors are willing pay a bit more to have a reliable and professional security firm at the market. The vendors added that this has been communicated to the clerk of the market. They are however awaiting his response.
“We are willing to pay more for a professional guard”, Persaud commented.
She said that this time around she changed the shutters of her stall and the bandits gained entry by prying open the back door. They escaped with a compressor, a quantity of clothes and other articles valued well over $400,000.
The woman said that they made several complaints to the Market Council but little is being done to have the issues resolved thus the vendors are of the view that the council should be held responsible.
The vendors are all irate because since the robbery occurred they are yet to hear anything from the Market Clerk as to their position on the security guards.
However when Stabroek News spoke to Market Clerk, Parsram Ramkissoon he said that the watchmen related to him that during the course of the night they saw three men in the vicinity of the market but they did nothing.
He said that the market has three watchmen who are all elderly persons. He added that the matter was reported to the police and they are conducting their investigations into the incident.
A few stalls away from Persaud is the stall of Bebi Salima Khan who vends clothing and haberdashery. She said that she was at home and around 7:30am she received a call stating that her stalls had been broken into. She said that she immediately left and went to investigate and noticed that the bolts on the shutters were ripped out and were tied up with a piece of rope. Upon entering the stall she noticed a quantity of articles missing. She estimated the value to be to the tune of over $500,000.
Khan said that this is not the first time this has been happening and called for more stringent security measures to be put in place to have the stall owners feel more secure when they leave their stalls at nights. She said that when the robberies occur the police come and they take statements and fingerprints but nothing ever materializes from the investigations.
She said “this is happening every time and nothing is being done to assist us…we need more proper security in the market”.
Maureen Rampertab who has been vending in the market for about three years was also robbed. Rampertab operates two stalls and the bandits took almost everything that was in the stalls. She valued it in the proximity of $500,000 noting that it is a tremendous loss to her since she deals with Avon Cosmetics.
She said that if she restocks her stalls it will be hard for her to feel secure about the items unless a professional guard service is hired.
