By Michel Outridge

NO arrests have been made as yet following a break and enter and larceny as well as robbery under arms at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) office at Triumph Public Road, East Coast Demerara, early Thursday morning.The police have reported that around 02:00hrs on June 2, 2016, four men armed with handguns stormed the RDC compound at Triumph. The robbers relieved one of the two security guards of cash and valuables, tied them up and proceeded to torch two safes in the building and carted off an undisclosed sum of cash.

Regional Executive Officer (REO) Pauline Lucas told the Guyana Chronicle that she was the last person to leave the office after securing the building around 19:00hrs Wednesday night.

She explained that she received a telephone call around 06:05hrs Thursday morning from the police stating that the office had been broken into and robbed.

She hurried to the scene and observed that the northern door to the upper flat of the building was prised open and the door to the Accounts Department was also forced open.

In the Accounts Department Lucas said the two safes there were torched open and the money stored inside was missing.Cheques that were in the vault were scattered on the floor in the Accounts Department.

Lucas told this newspaper that the auditors were with the staffers trying to ascertain how much money was missing.She estimated that the bandits would have spent more than two hours to torch open the safes.

The money they had stored there belonged to Bladen Hall Secondary School. The school had embarked on several fund-raising activities to garner money for enhancement purposes at the school and the RDC agreed to store the money for safekeeping following a request by teachers. Lucas said the school had uplifted a part of the money, but the rest was still stored in the safe until they needed it.

She told the Guyana Chronicle that they don’t keep cash in the office, just cheques,as employees are paid through the bank or by cheque. Lucas, when questioned, said it was too early to say if it was an inside job and will allow the police to probe.
Sleuths have since visited the scene and lifted fingerprints and talked with several employees.

Lucas said the place is monitored by two guards attached to Home Safe Security Services at any given time and it is unfortunate that one of them was robbed.