Shortly after the Wismar Post Office opened for business yesterday morning, bandits assaulted the lone uniformed police officer and made off with his gun and an undisclosed sum of money.
The money was to be used to make payments to pensioners in Linden and other areas of Region Ten.
The incident occurred shortly after 8 am. When Stabroek News arrived on the scene a little later, Commander of the Police ‘E’ Division Owen Trotz was there, but he refused to comment on the incident. According to reports, the Wismar Post Office has a staff of nine, but just three staffers were at the post office at the time of the robbery.
Pensioners, who turned up after the incident to draw their monthly money, were told by Post Mistress Romona Singh that the post office was closed for the day.
By 11 am, a pick-up with about six uniformed officers from the Tactical Service Unit clad in black bullet-proof vests arrived at the Wismar Police Station from Georgetown.
It is alleged that two to four young men committed the robbery. One of them struck the lone policeman, who accompanied the transfer of the money to the post office and as he fell took away the gun he was carrying while the others scrambled up the containers of money and escaped.
While the police and post office officials remain tight lipped, it is alleged that the police have made a number of arrests in relation to the robbery.
It is the second time in about three years that the Wismar Post Office, which is located at the junction of Jordan Road and First Street, Silvertown, adjacent to the Silvertown Playing Field has been robbed of cash by bandits.
