Investigators are focusing on the accounts of three guards following their report on Thursday that bandits waylaid them at Mahaica and stole in excess of $10M.
A senior police officer said investigators are having a hard time corroborating the guards’ stories. Up to press time, the three guards were still in police custody and the police said they were looking into every angle, including the possible involvement of other persons.
“We are trying to recover the money..” the officer told Stabroek News yesterday.
The three Securicor security guards were transporting the money in an armoured van from Berbice, to the city, on Thursday midday. At the time of the alleged incident, all three of the guards were armed - one with a shotgun and two were outfitted with a pistol each. The men told law enforcers that the bandits stole their weapons, as well as a cellular phone, a hand held radio set and two wristwatches. According to reports, the guards said while they were travelling along the Mahaica New Road at the Greenfield Junction, two men dressed in police traffic regulation clothes signalled for them to stop.
They said the driver stopped the van and was ordered out of the vehicle by the two ‘policemen’, but immediately, seven heavily armed men, who were apparently hiding in the bushes nearby, emerged and stripped them of their weapons.
According to the police, two of the men said the bandits taped their hands, feet and mouths and directed the driver to proceed some 80 yards down a track at Mosquito Hall, also in the Mahaica area. The driver of the vehicle was then tied up after the vehicle got stuck in the mud and the bandits reportedly made a clean getaway with ten bags of money.
The guards told the police that they were warned not to follow, as they would be blown up with grenades that were supposedly in the van. However, the police said a subsequent inspection of the vehicle did not unearth any such explosive devices. The guards also told police that after about 20 or 25 minutes, they managed to free themselves and walked back to the main road, where they flagged down a passing police vehicle and reported the matter.
“We have some doubts ...we are looking at whether there might have been a conspiracy. We are checking all of that. We have to investigate whether they go on a particular day, or if when the money reaches a certain amount, they randomly transport it,” the officer stated. He pointed out that a similar case involving members of the same security firm was reported in Jamaica. There was also another incident of this kind in Trinidad a few months ago.
Residents in the area did not report seeing anything suspicious even though the incident occurred in the middle of the day, sources say.
It is still unclear how much money is involved, since according to the police, a bank official would only say, “it was in excess of $10M”. Bank officials yesterday remained silent on the matter when contacted by Stabroek News. The managing director of Securicor could not be reached for a comment.
Based on information posted on the company’s website, the company took over the external customer base of the Royal Bank security in 1998, which involved guarding, cash in transit, monitoring and response.
“Securicor throughout its history in Trinidad and Tobago has always been seeking to find the most secure means of handling customers operations. Thus in 1986 the Company introduced, what at the time, was a new bag for transporting cash. It utilized the metal bar threaded through a canvas bag and secured by a metal numbered seal. This bag over time became the standard cash transport bag for all banks and customers with large deposits. The year 1998 saw Securicor introducing to the Trinidad market a new bag for cash movement, which was a tamper evident self sealing disposal plastic bag. This bag has now become standard for small cash movement,” the website stated. (Kim Lucas)