GEA workers to face charges over stolen fuel markers

The three Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) employees implicated in the theft of a quantity of fuel markers are to face charges today.

The workers, a technician/engineer, a licence officer and an economist, are to be arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on charges of break and enter and larceny, based on a recommendation made yesterday by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

A police source told Stabroek News that traces of the fuel markers were found on the hands of two of the workers. The workers are not supposed to come into contact with the fuel markers, since they are not attached to the agency’s Quamina Street headquarters, where the fuel markers are stored. There is only one authorized person who handles the fuel markers and who would use a combination of fuel markers to get the standard marker that the GEA would use.

The DPP has also instructed the police to conduct further investigations into the theft, this newspaper was told.

The three workers were recorded in the GEA compound last Friday night, shortly before surveillance cameras went blank for almost two hours.

According to a source, the camera footage showed when a car with the three employees arrived and stopped in front of the gate, just after 9. After blowing for a few minutes and seeing no guard, one of the men exited the vehicle and opened the gates, allowing the car to drive in.

The guard, who was apparently at another location in the compound when the employees arrived, later arrived and closed the gate. The guard did not view the presence of the employees as suspicious, since persons frequent the facility at all hours.

After entering the compound, the technician/engineer headed straight for the building, while the car with the other men headed to the container.  When the car stopped, one of the two occupants came out and opened the truck.

The cameras stopped recording from 9:17 pm until 11:02 pm. However, the footage clearly showed the technician exiting the gate. The car had already left, by then.

The theft was discovered when employees arrived the following morning to collect markers to commence their work and noticed that the padlock was tampered with.

Based on the recollection of the guard, there was no power failure at the facility and therefore the cameras had to have been disabled manually.

The three employees were arrested on Monday after investigators had reviewed the footage.