Video shows two men leaving the pharmacy with a safe and placing it in front of another business
By Prior Beharry
MONTHS after a businessman was killed next to his pharmacy in a car park, break-ins continue in a minimall in Aranguez.
During the wee hours of Wednesday, two men broke into the Pills and Potions Pharmacy and made away with a safe.
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Owner of Mahdeo’s Mini Plaza in Lower Aranguez Ramcharan Baldeo confirmed the robbery and said that the bandits gained access by cutting the galvanized roof.
He said last week there were break-ins at the Chinese restaurant and a Lotto booth but not much money was taken as reported in the media. He said the businesses were ransacked.
One business owner said she was sad and frustrated and called on the police to have more patrols, especially between 1 am and 2 pm – when most burglaries took place.
In April, the owner of Pills and Potion Cheval Ramjattan was fatally shot after work when he was in his car. This followed the ambush of an Aranguez family in their home with a 14-year-old boy being one of the several suspects charged.
Since these incidents, there have been burglaries at night but not robberies in the day while businesses were operating, Baldeo said.
He said he was now considering reinforcing the roofs of his tenants’ buildings and installing sensors that would go off once there is a breach.
Baldeo said the latest robbery took place between 2 am to 2.30 am and the men were seen carrying a safe and placing it in front of a business. He said the men came through the roof and then broke a glass window in front of the pharmacy to escape and get the safe out.
Following the spate of robberies and murder earlier this year, four religious leaders held a press conference in the car park where Ramjattan was killed to condemn what was happening in the San Juan area.
Pundits Bramanand Rambachan and Satyanand Maharaj said that the crime spate in Aranguez was being perpetrated against East Indians by miscreants along the East-West corridor.
They were condemned in some quarters for making those statements.
