BANDITS in the wee hours of Wednesday morning robbed a pharmacy and hardware store at Lot 38, Virginia Village, Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara before setting the building on fire.The building located next to a police station was under construction and had commenced business some two years ago.

The owner, Dr Shivaram Itwaru, who is also a businessman, said the bandits entered the premises and torched the building using diesel after stealing his supplies. He was unable to save any item in stock and estimated his losses at $30M.

The medical doctor employed at the Georgetown Public Hospital and who has been practicing for over a decade, said he was out of the country for three months and only returned to Guyana Tuesday last.

“Last night, I was sleeping and my brother-in-law came to my house and started rapping on the door like 03:00 hrs and he told me the building was on fire. When I rush to the scene, I saw a lot of villagers assisting in putting the fire out and the fire truck came a little after that,” he recalled.

The doctor noted that there are cameras at all corners of his premises but noted that some of their positions were moved.

He also noted that the robbers burnt the camera’s DVR system in a bid to cover their identity.

“The investigators said the fire didn’t happen in one place, it happened in multiple places and diesel was used since bottles with the flammable liquid were found,” he said.

The bandits knocked out a grill from a window on the western side of the building to gain access to the business, Dr Itwaru said, pointing out that inside the building investigators also found coconut shells soaked with diesel.

The building stored groceries, confectionaries and hardware, as well as pharmaceutical supplies.

The doctor has since given a statement to the police and has related to them his suspicions.

His business is not insured and he related that it was too expensive at the time since he had to his repay creditors.