FIRE suspected to be the result of arson damaged another storage bond owned by executed businessman, Mohamed Shalahudeen Bacchus Baksh, early yesterday morning, in Sheriff Street, Georgetown. It was the second such property similarly damaged since Baksh was gunned down execution-style on June 15.
Chief Fire Officer, Marlon Gentle said the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) received a telephone call at 03:25 hrs about the blaze at Lot 16 Sheriff Street.
He said three tenders responded at the wooden building heavily secured by grills, where the firefighters managed to gain entry and doused the flames inside.
Gentle said the western wall of structure was scorched and louvre windows and bags of fertiliser were also damaged.
The Fire Chief said the bond was used to store fertiliser, school supplies, janitorial equipment and mechanical tools, among other merchandise.
Deliberately started
He said the conflagration was deliberately started at three different parts of the back of the place where entry was gained to the premises through an alleyway at the rear as a security guard was on duty in front.
The guard told the GFS he heard what sounded like a loud explosion and then saw the blaze.
On June 21, sections of another building owned by the same man was destroyed, leaving millions of dollars in losses.
The GFS said that, too, resulted from a deliberate act that set the flames in several sections of the building both inside and outside, although that edifice, at Lot 322 Rohinital Street, Prashad Nagar, is heavily grilled and secured, as well.
Baksh was shot dead while socialising with friends at a bar in Thomas Street, in the city, too.
The shooter entered the place about 22:00 hrs.
No clear motive has since been established for the killing but Baksh had previously survived a shooting attempt on his life in 2008, on Lamaha Street, Georgetown.
Baksh, 42, of Bel Air Gardens and Lot 9 Pouderoyen, proprietor of Pest Control Plus, was buried after being accorded Muslim rites at Versailles Cemetery following the viewing and Janaaza at Versailles Masjid Compound, also at West Bank Demerara.