A Brazilian national who operated a money transfer service at Mahdia in Region Eight was last evening robbed and killed by bandits who carted away an undisclosed sum of cash.
Stabroek News was told that the man, known to residents only as ‘Vandalay,’ was 40 years old and operated a money transfer business in central Mahdia a short distance from the Mahdia Power and Light (MPL) Company. He was fatally stabbed to his neck once after being robbed by two men around 7:30 last evening.
A police source confirmed the death and said that while ranks have secured video surveillance from the business.
However the source said that from initial reports it seemed like the act was carried out by two persons.
Even as police investigations continued a resident of the area, who requested anonymity, expressed frustration at the way the situation was being handled. The woman said that while she sold food a short distance away from a house she and her son share, unknown to her police stormed the premises in their search for the bandits.
She said residents of the area are concerned that police there are not proactive and it is only after a robbery would have occurred that they “begin working. People from here won’t rob and kill a man from here but the police like I don’t know what they are thinking. They see strange men come up on the bus they won’t stop and ask where y’all going nothing,” she said.
“When a robbery now or see a murder then they begin working and could [have] save themselves that hassle and do like what them old police like Semple and La Rose and them boys used to do, put up stop and check the bus you can’t say where you going, send you back,” she added.
The police source said he was unaware of residents of Mahdia expressing concern over the way ranks undertook their duties. Nonetheless, he said, if it was the case that the officers breached duty protocol it would be investigated.
A post-mortem examination is scheduled for tomorrow. In the meantime, the body is at the community morgue.
Police today issued the following release:
