Store owner ‘blue’ after bandits grab over 60 cell phones

Bandits who broke into the Blue Ridge Wireless at Main and New Streets, New Amsterdam may be talking a lot this Christmas since they carted off over 60 cell phones worth over $700,000 on Sunday night.

Owner of the popular cell phone repair store, Patrick Barry, 25, called ‘Boy Blue’ told Stabroek News yesterday that he also lost a quantity of IPods, batteries and phone parts.

He made the discovery when he arrived at the store around 8.30 am yesterday. He said the thieves gained entry to the building though a side window. They then apparently used a bottle, which was recovered nearby, to smash the glass case and grab the booty.

Barry said he immediately contacted the police who arrived promptly, dusted for fingerprints and conducted investigations.

Lamenting his loss, Barry who is contracted by big companies like A. Ally & Sons, Unicell and Unicell Plus to unlock and repair phones said most of the phones that were stolen belonged to those businesses.

He also said that he had the latest ‘top brand’ phones belonging to other customers as well and was worried about how he would be able to repay them. Barry is also disturbed that because “I had a lot of extra phones to work on because of the holidays…”
He recalled that recently the Eclipse Barber Shop which is connected to his store was broken and a quantity of items was also stolen.