A man has been held by police in connection with the armed robbery carried out on the Readymix Concrete Limited’s main office at Eccles Industrial Site, East Bank Demerara.
Police Commander of ‘A’ Division Marlon Chapman yesterday confirmed the arrest and said the man is being treated as a suspect.
The company said yesterday that it is still tallying its losses but a manager said the men who robbed the office on Sunday morning reportedly escaped with $200,000 that was in a drawer. He could not state how much money was stolen from the vault, which the men used a torch to cut open.
Another manager, identified as Khanai (only name given), said the property is well secured as the doors have electronic locks. He noted that the men broke the locks, which he believed triggered the alarm.
Three men, who were armed, stormed the compound on Sunday morning. One of them held two elderly watchmen at gunpoint in the security hut, allowing the others to proceed to raid the office. The men reportedly used a sledgehammer and broke a section of the wall of the two storey-building.
Khanai said the men the hit off the lock to the general manager’s office, where they cut open the safe with a torch.
However, after the alarm went off, the men took what they could have collected and escaped. At this point, they were intercepted by members of Queensway Security Service, a private security firm that is responsible for the company headquarters. There was an exchange of gunfire between the two sides but the robbers managed to flee the scene.
The men managed to escape through a hole they made in the fence at the rear of the compound.
Readymix managers believed that the act was carried out by persons who know the layout of the operations.
Yesterday, the company was carrying out additional corrective works on the building.
