Crime Chief Paul Williams yesterday confirmed that three more persons have been arrested for questioning in connection with the L Seepersaud Maraj and Sons jewellery store burglary, in which millions in gold and diamond jewellery was stolen after the vault at the Stabroek Market business was cut open. Contacted for an update on the investigation last evening, Williams told Stabroek News that the three men, two of whom were picked up in Linden and the other in Georgetown, were arrested over the weekend. “We are investigating still and the three persons in custody are being questioned,” he said.
He added that several other persons, including the City Constabulary ranks who were on duty on the weekend of the break in, were detained upon request and were questioned as part of the probe.
When Stabroek News visited the L Seepersaud Maraj and Sons jewellery store yesterday, the business was in full operation and the owners noted that everything is in the hands of the police.
The owners of the store discovered that their stall had been broken into and that their vault was cut open last Tuesday morning after a fellow stallholder alerted them. They said based on advice from security specialists and persons trained in ironworking and welding, it would have taken no less than five hours for the vault to be cut open.
The robbery, which is suspected to have taken place last Monday night based on the time when the alarm was triggered, has resulted in the city council announcing plans to increase security at the municipal markets.
The break-in resulted in close scrutiny of the constabulary as well as the private MMC security firm that was hired by the company. The jewellery store, in a statement after the burglary, had said that it was not contacted by MMC after the alarms went off as is usually the case, and that the security force also did not contact the police. It was stated that the alarm was triggered three times on Monday night.
However, MMC last week said that after receiving electronic alarm signals from the store, calls were made to the numbers provided but the calls went unanswered. “As per operating procedure, we dispatched an armed Power Patrol team to the client’s location. Unfortunately, our team was unable to gain access to the Stabroek Market after normal business hours,” it added
Asked about their response to the MMC statement, the proprietors declined to comment, while noting that a private investigation has since been launched.
