Approximately $6M in foreign liquor was stolen from a Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) warehouse and the agency yesterday said surveillance footage implicates members of the security firm guarding the facility.
The theft occurred at the GRA’s Eccles Warehouse Facility, which Stabroek News learnt was being guarded by the Professional Guard Service Limited on a 24-hour basis.
However, when contacted an official of the firm declined to comment on the theft, while noting that it iscurrently being investigated by the GRA.
In addition to the liquor, a number of other items were also stored in the large warehouse, including vehicles and containers. The premises is only accessible to GRA personnel.
Stabroek News visited the warehouse, which is located at Industrial Site, Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) yesterday afternoon. However, the security officer who was on duty at the time refused to comment.
The liquor was discovered missing on May 13th but the GRA only disclosed the theft yesterday, more than two weeks later.
In a statement, GRA said the discovery was made by officers of its Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) during a routine inventory exercise, which led to the immediate launching of an investigation on May 13th. “As a result of the discovery, surveillance footage was reviewed and has revealed that officers of the security firm contracted to provide twenty four hours security to the said warehouse were very much involved in the reprehensible act,” it noted.
“From all indications, this incident was orchestrated utilising the cloak of darkness in an effort to avoid detection of the activity and the identification of the perpetrators. Preliminary investigations have revealed that no current employee of the GRA is involved in this incident,” it added.
According to the GRA, it has since provided copies of the recording to the management of the private security firm and has indicated that it is being held culpable.
It also indicated that the matter has been reported to the Guyana Police Force for further investigation and the subsequent institution of criminal charges.
In addition, the statement said GRA Commissioner-General Khurshid Sattaur has assured that the agency will spare no effort in having the perpetrators brought to justice.
He noted that the agency had previously installed a Close Circuit Television (CCTV) monitoring system to safeguard against such incidents and this had significantly aided the investigation.
