No arrests made, City Hall /MMC differ on response claims
DESPITE the more than two hours lock-down at the Stabroek Market on Tuesday, in search of jewellery, cash, and precious stones that went missing after a heist at one of the stalls in the facility, neither City Hall’s law enforcement unit nor the police are any way closer to solving the multi-million dollar crime. Speaking with a relative of the stall holder, he said that the police did not return to them with any comforting information nor did the constables. The man, who identified himself as Hussein, said that he was informed that running security cameras from a nearby stall came up empty-handed.
The man informed the Guyana Chronicle that constables returned to the market and conducted further checks to see if they could come up with anything that will aid in their investigations. From all indications the man added, the search did not add any new information from what was gathered on Tuesday morning.
Contacted yesterday, the City Hall’s Public Relations Officer, Royston King informed that so far nothing tangible has come out of the investigation. He said that they are continuing their investigations into the matter, with the assistance of the police.
The Guyana Chronicle has been reliably informed that the Chief Constable of the City Constabulary will be dispatching an official letter to the MMC firm to officially register its position that at no time did the security firm visit the market in response to the break in. MMC said that it had responded.
The Chronicle understands that at about 02:00hrs Monday, MMC responded to an indication at their end that the alarm of the stall in question was disarmed. A source at the security firm had claimed that there was no response to the facility during the course of Monday night or Tuesday morning, before 09:00hrs in relation to the stall breakage.
The disclosure by the source at the firm substantiates the claim by City Hall that the security firm did not visit the facility in response to the breakage.
But there is the MMC claim that it responded on Monday morning when it was denied access to the facility and experienced the refusal of city constables to accompany them to check on the stall following the indication that the alarm to the stall was disarmed.
On Tuesday morning proprietress and stall holder, Radhika Samuels turned up at the market to find that her stall, the “Cosmopolitan Jewellery Establishment” was broken into. The woman said that she alerted the city constables and the police who swooped down on the market place and locked it down as they searched several stalls and shoppers who were leaving the facility. The lock down also saw several persons being locked out of the facility for the duration of the exercise.
The stall holder had informed that the break-in saw her losing her life time investment. She said that that the break-in was the second since the business has been in operation, pointing to a similar incident 15 years ago.