Post office says $42M was taken in heist

The Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) says it was robbed of $42M outside the Bourda Post Office by armed bandits on Wednesday and not $90m as the police had reported.

In a statement yesterday, the GPOC said that this robbery took place despite the presence of full contracted security personnel, GPOC staff   and a menu of infrastructural and external security reinforcements complementing the Corporation’s internal agents.

It said that measures that were implemented earlier this year, come at a considerable cost to the Corporation.

The Corporation apologised to pensioners for the inconvenience in the non-payment of pensions at some of its paying offices on April 1, 2015, and said that payments at other locations continued smoothly. Payments at affected offices continued on April 2 and all payments will continue on April 7, 2015, and onwards as usual, the GPOC said.

The GPOC said it is again reviewing all its options and working with the police in their investigations. Meanwhile two men remain in police custody in connection with the heist

Police had stated that three men with firearms held up a police escort and the driver of the post office bus on Regent Street, Bourda.

The perpetrators took away the policeman’s rifle with 20 rounds, then entered the vehicle and forced the driver to drive away, with the policeman.

The men abandoned the vehicle along Cemetery Road, Georgetown, escaping with the money along with the policeman’s firearm.

A senior police official told Stabroek News the abducted policeman and the driver of the vehicle were the persons detained as part of the investigation.