Bandits operating under the cover of night broke into Cellphone Shack on North Road on Thursday emptying a glass case of cellular phones and carting off other items including a lap top computer.

The estimated loss is around $2M according to Operations Manager, Paul Parsaram who said that over 50 cellular phones, among them many new models, have been stolen. He said that the intrusion appeared to have been quick since phones were found scattered across the store and near the door where the persons gained entry.

One of the front doors of the building was ripped opened to gain entry but the bandits had to break through a wall before entering the store. From all indications a crowbar might have been used.

Yesterday a few footprints were visible outside of the store which led Parsaram to speculate that a group of around three broke into the store. He said that live security cameras are installed at the store and they were on at the time of the break-in but none of the cameras was recording.

An empty glass case, tumbled shelves and scattered items greeted staff at the store when they showed up at around 8 am. The bandits ransacked the store and found cellular phones that were in for repairs and carted those off as well.

“They grabbed phones belonging to customers who brought them in for repairs. This is the first time we have been robbed at this location in the six years that we have been doing business here”, Parsaram noted.

Parsaram noted that there was an attempted break-in at another Cellphone Shack location at Grove, East Bank Demerara sometime ago. He said this break-in has forced them to rethink security measures at the North Road location, adding that within the coming days they will install grills at the store. He said that an alarm system which is in place but has been defunct for sometime will be revived.

The other businesses that surround Cellphone Shack have day security guards only, according to Parsaram, so there was no one around to say anything about the break-in. He added that a tenant who resides behind the store could not recall hearing anything strange on Thursday night.

The police were called in and they are investigating.