Arsonists torch auto dealer’s vehicles

Jan 30, 2014 News

An East Coast Demerara auto dealer is claiming over $20M in losses following a fire early yesterday morning that destroyed several vehicles in his 176 Lusignan compound.

One of the destroyed mini buses.

Nizam Khan, who runs Selena’s Auto Sales, is convinced that the fire was deliberately set and is the work of a disgruntled customer from whom he had recently repossessed two Toyota minibuses; the popular “Pit bull”.
The fire started around 1:30 hours and completely destroyed the two 15-seater minibuses and damaged three other cars that were parked nearby. Khan’s house was also scorched by the blaze which was eventually extinguished by firefighters from the city.
The businessman said that he was asleep when he was awakened by a loud explosion and upon checking he saw fire and thick smoke. “The first thing we see was the two buses on fire,” he said.
An alarm was raised and several neighbours responded and began fighting the blaze, but their efforts could not prevent the fire from damaging three other vehicles.
According to Khan, the two buses were the subject of a bitter dispute between him and one of his customers.
But although he saw no one actually set the buses alight he is certain that the said customer is involved.
“I repossessed it because of non-payment…and he promise me he gonna burn them,” the businessman said.
He explained that for several months he was trying to locate the buses and eventually tracked them down to linden where their numbers were changed.

An angry Nizam Khan (centre) surveys his loss.

“The day when we seized the buses, he sent some of his boys in a white Allion car at my office. They spent like about 20-25 minutes. I gave that report to the police at linden because I was in linden at the time,” Khan told this newspaper.
Yesterday’s loss is another bitter pill for khan to swallow since he claimed that he also lost two cars a few weeks ago.
“Four weeks ago I lost two cars and the same Allion was involved. So it looks like one team,” he said.
The police are investigating.