A Queenstown family of four lost almost $1M in items including electronics and cash after three armed men barged into their home while they were celebrating Diwali on Tuesday evening.
According to Indira Raj, who occupies the Lot 223 Peter Rose and Almond streets, Queenstown, Georgetown house with her husband and two sons, they had just finished lighting up diyas in the yard and were making checks on them when three armed men, one of whom was masked, barged into the yard using both entrances. Her husband was gun butted while one of the men pointed a gun to her 10-year-old son’s head demanding that he lead him to where the valuables and money were. The other son who was in the house also had a similar experience.
The woman said the items were eventually handed over to the men who spent almost 15 minutes in the house. The items included laptops, an IPad, cell phones and a quantity of foreign and local currency.
She noted that neighbours were alerted while the incident was ongoing and attempted to contact the police but failed since calls to 911 went unanswered. The bandits escaped in a car which was parked at the back entrance of the house.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum yesterday said that an investigation has been launched. He noted that there have been technical glitches with the 911 number for years now and though reported to the telephone service provider; GT&T the problem is yet to be resolved. He pointed out that the problem had developed during the Henry Greene era. It was based on repeated complaints from members of the public that experts were called in. It was then that the technical difficulty was unearthed, Blanhum said.
Raj expressed concerns about the poor response of the police who only turned up half an hour after the robbery even though the Alberttown police station is not far away.
