Man stole, resold $13M in powdered milk

– court hears

A man was yesterday accused of stealing in excess of $13M worth of powdered milk from a businessman but he told a city court that he was being framed.

Parsram Tirbini, 33, was yesterday remanded to prison when he was arraigned on a break and enter and larceny charge before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court One.

The charge against Tirbini is that between September 14 and September 30, at Industrial Site, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, he broke and entered the storage bond of Seeram Debicharran and stole therein 554 boxes of milk powder, all totaling $13,850,000. The powdered milk was the property of Debicharran.

Tirbini denied the charge when it was read to him and stated that he was being framed for something he did not do.

Prosecutor Michael Grant said that after investigations had been conducted, Tirbini took the police to a number of persons to whom he had sold the milk. He added that 40 boxes, valued at $1M, had been recovered.

Tirbini, however, vehemently refuted the prosecutor’s case stating instead that the police had used those persons to frame him. He said that he was surprised that those persons had not been charged with receiving stolen articles.

In a bail application for himself, the unrepresented Tirbini told the court that he has two children and is a “poor man.”

In relating the facts of the case, Grant said that Debicharran, who imports milk into the country, had secured his bond on September 14.

After returning on September 30, he found that it had been broken into and the items missing.

The court heard that acting on information received, lawmen then went to Tirbini’s, home after which he took them to persons to whom he had sold the items. He was subsequently arrested and charged.

After hearing the case, the magistrate informed Tirbini that he would be remanded to prison. The case was transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court, where the next hearing is set for October 24.