COPS DETAIN 4 SECURITY GUARDSBy NALINEE SEELAL Sunday, December 30 2012
Thieves broke into the Kent House, Maraval office of Minister of Local Government, Suruj Rambachan, on Friday night, and escaped with a quantity of hampers sent to the Minister’s office by friends of the ministry.
Police said yesterday that four security guards, of Pentagon Security, three females and one male, were detained yesterday for questioning into the larceny and break-in.
According to police reports, at about 7.30 pm on Friday, security guard Lenny Davis secured the offices of the Ministry of Local Government, after noting that everything was intact and left.
He reported that at about 11.30 pm on Friday, he returned to the offices to make his routine checks, when he observed that a door leading to the Minister’s office, as well as the office of Permanent Secretary Amrudeen Ali, had been broken in.
Davis contacted the St Clair Police Station and officers, led by Acting ASP Ajith Persad, Sgt Singh and Cpl Carmichael, along with fingerprint experts, visited the scene and it was discovered that a quantity of hampers were missing.
Yesterday, officers detained the four guards, who were being quizzed in connection with the missing hampers and break-in.
Rambachan visited the office yesterday and perused documents and other valuable items in his office. He later told Sunday Newsday that all his documents seemed to be intact, and only the hampers which were in his office appeared to be stolen.
He said hampers sent to his ministry are normally distributed to members of staff and the few remaining ones that were there had been stolen.
“It is always very disturbing when thieves break into your property and remove items, and from that point of view it is a little bit disconcerting. But I have not missed any major documents from my office.”
Asked by Sunday Newsday whether Ali had discovered any valuables missing, Rambachan said Ali was still trying to ascertain what was stolen or removed.
Investigations are continuing into the matter by Cpl Carmichael.
