BANDITS carted off millions of dollars in valuables after torching the vault of popular Guyanese jewellery store L. Seepersaud Maraj and Sons located inside the Stabroek Market.
It is suspected that the theft occurred on CARICOM Day or into the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Police from the Major Crime Investigations Unit probing the robbery visited the Section 4 Stall, 42-43 Stabroek Market, early Tuesday morning.
A staffer related that when he visited the store Monday morning, everything was intact and when another staff turned up at work at 07:00hrs on Tuesday, it was discovered that the store was vandalised.
Reports indicate that the staff upon arrival Tuesday morning observed the front grill of the store was opened and upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the vault door was also opened. She immediately contacted the proprietor who visited and noted that a large quantity of gold and diamond jewellery was missing.
Police source said the robbers gained entry to the store from the eastern grill by cutting the locks and disabling the alarm systems before blow-torching the vault door open.
It was noted that the bandits took several hours to complete their operation since there were three major security doors before the vault.
Police have collected fingerprints from the scene but no arrest has been made as investigation continues.