Barama probing $11.5M payroll theft

http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56524368

Barama probing $11.5M payroll theft
Stabroek News
Thursday, July 12th 2007

Barama Company Limited has launched an internal investigation into
Tuesday's daring $11.5M river robbery at Buck Hall, Essequibo as four
persons including three employees remain in police custody.

From all appearances the gunmen had very good information on the
transport of the money and they were very professional in executing the
robbery.Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday the Managing Director of
the company Girwar Lalaram said that the chief security officer was
sent to Essequibo on Tuesday to conduct investigations and he is
awaiting his return for a report on his findings.

He said that he is confident that the police will conduct a thorough
investigation at the end of which he will accept the findings.

In describing the robbery as an unfortunate situation, Lalaram said
that "no one can put the best security measures in place. It will only
work for a while and then people would outsmart the system".

He added that the company can only take the necessary precautions based
on a given situation and added that it is for the security personnel to
map out a plan so as to try to thwart robberies like the one his
company experienced.

In making a plea, he said that it is time for the business community to
take these attacks seriously and for the security and the relevant
government agencies to take a positive approach to this situation and
come up with ways to avert it in the future.

Recounting the day of the incident he said that employees left by boat
from the Land of Canaan complex for Buck Hall, Essequibo with the
payroll for the employees there.

Asked if an armed security guard was on the boat he said that it is his
understanding that at least one guard is usually there whenever money
is being transported. He however could not confirm if this was the case
on Tuesday morning when the boat left.

He said that it would appear that the men were professionals. He said
that the bandits whom he referred to as pirates knew what they were
doing since they took the line out of the fuel tank after snatching the
money "I don't know if they had info about the money but from the way
they operated they looked like professionals. I think they knew just
what they were doing", he said.

Lalaram told this newspaper that it was fishermen nearby who rescued
the men who were just drifting. He said that he was told that three
employees and the boat captain are in custody at the Anna Regina Police
Station assisting with investigations.

This is not the first robbery of this kind for the company, he told
this newspaper. He said that last year the payroll was snatched while
it was being transported.

Police in a press release had said that ranks in Essequibo are
investigating a robbery under arms committed on Yhip Foo, Project
Manager of the Barama Dock Yard, Dwayne Roberts, Forestry Ranger at
Buck Hall, Essequibo and boat captain Ramkumar Rajkumar also of Buck
Hall.

Investigations so far have revealed that at about 11 am on Tuesday, the
three men were travelling in a boat in the vicinity of Small Troolie
Island and Great Troolie Island in the Essequibo River, when three men
in another boat, two of whom were armed with guns, approached the
victims' boat discharging rounds in their direction as they did so.
This forced Rajkumar to stop his boat and the bandits came up
alongside.

The two armed men boarded the victims' boat and demanded cash, gun
butting Rajkumar to his head in the process, stated the release. The
gunmen then took away several boxes that contained $11.5 million, along
with $15,000 cash from the boat captain and escaped after disabling the
victims' boat by taking out the engine lead. (Zoisa Fraser)