A former defendant in the 2006 murder of Kaieteur News press men was held last Friday night in connection with an armed robbery that occurred at Eccles Industrial Site a day earlier and he will be placed on an identification parade shortly.
Police Commissioner Henry Greene yesterday said that it is suspected that persons from a nearby community were behind the attack and as a result police conducted raids there. It was during one such raid that the man was held.
During the early morning hours, a gang of six men, two of whom were armed with guns, stormed Telcoms Solutions Guy Inc, East Bank Demerara. During the episode, two guards attached to a private security service were robbed of two 12-gauge shotguns and twenty matching cartridges.
Investigations, the police said, revealed that the two armed guards from the private service and another guard attached to Telcoms Solutions were on duty when they were held up by the group.
The armed men then took away the two shotguns and then assaulted the guards and tied them up. The armed gang, police added, broke into Telecoms Solutions and took away articles, including computer monitors and cell phones after cutting phone lines and turning off the security cameras. They then escaped.
Meanwhile senior officials of the private security service have told this newspaper that the guards have proceeded on leave. The official said that since the company’s establishment four decades ago, crime has become more organised and deadlier. He said that in many cases, particularly armed robberies, the perpetrators work with inside information.
Speaking on the Eccles incident, the official told Stabroek News that the gang used the element of surprise. He stressed that it was clearly a case of inside information. “That was a planned robbery,” he said.
Another senior official said that what is of concern is that a lot of these crimes are being committed by young people who are the “productive group” in society.
He said that the company is always concerned about their ranks when incidents such as the Eccles robbery occur. He told this newspaper that a lot of money is spent on equipment, including armoured vehicles, to protect the guards.
He stressed that “a criminal has a strange mind,” pointing out that if a criminal wants something he will try everything to get it.
Speaking specifically about the two guards, the official said that they would not have been at the location for too long. He explained that the company moves the guards around so each one would spend a minimum of one week at any location. The guards involved in last Thursday’s incident were on foot patrol duty and according to the officials they were required to make regular checks.Police investigations are continuing.
