Three Stabroek Market vendors were this morning remanded to prison after being charged with the theft of $22 million in cash and jewellery last week from the L. Seepersaud Maraj and Sons jewellery store.
Charged are Clifford Rodney, Albert DeFreitas and Trayon Parks.
The charge alleges that the trio between July 2nd and July 3rd, at Stabroek Market, Georgetown, broke and entered the L Seepersaud Maraj and Sons store and stole a quantity of gold and diamond jewellery, valued at $20 million and $2 million in cash.
The men were not required to plead to the indictable charge and Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan remanded them prison after an objection to bail by prosecutor Neville Jeffers, who mentioned that all three men were previously charged and two have pending court matters.
The matter is expected to be called again on July 23rd.
The owners of the store discovered that their stall had been broken into and that their vault was cut open last Tuesday morning after a fellow stallholder alerted them.
“The vault had three (3) doors and each door was cut with precision. It is sufficient to say that the perpetrators of this crime aren’t novices, but highly skilled thieves,” the store owners said on the company’s Facebook page.
They said based on advice from security specialists and persons trained in ironworking and welding, it would have taken no less than five hours for the vault to be cut open.
The robbery, which is suspected to have taken place on the night of July 2nd based on the time when the alarm was triggered, has resulted in the city council announcing plans to increase security at the municipal markets.
