THE Guyana Post Office Corporation has announced that its Wismar Post Office is closed for emergency repairs following an invasion by bandits on Thursday.

In a statement the GPOC said early in the morning of Thursday several armed bandits broke into the Wismar Post Office around 04:00am by cutting a protective grill and breaking a window on the northern side of the building.

Fortunately, other layers of security that were previously installed to safeguard the assets of the GPOC, successfully prevented the thieves from removing cash from the building, the release stated. “GPOC wishes to inform the public that all liquid assets present in the building have been accounted for. The bandits, however, did succeed in starting a fire inside the Wismar Post Office which resulted in damage to our fixed assets including furniture, walls, counters and flooring,” the release added.

As a result, GPOC says it is now forced to close the office for a short period during which the repairs will be made to render the building habitable for staff and customers in Linden.
In the meantime, manpower and facilities at the McKenzie Post Office have been reinforced to effectively manage the increased customer traffic. “GPOC takes this opportunity to express sincere gratitude to our partners in Linden, especially the nearby residents who successfully averted a more serious disaster. We are grateful for the intervention and the continuing work of the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Fire Service who were swift in their response. More so, we welcome and appreciate the efforts of the Regional Chairman, Renis Morian and his team of councillors for their determined efforts to ensure that the rehabilitation of the Wismar Post Office includes stronger security measures.”

Going forward, GPOC said it envisions working in collaboration with the GPF’s ‘E’ Division and Region 10 officials on order to achieve “what we have been implementing in Post Offices around the country. “

The corporation also assures customers in Wismar, Mackenzie and the wider Linden community that the Guyana Post Office Corporation has already begun to reform the postal culture in the country, transforming the services “we have traditionally offered into modernised services which include Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities.”