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Hardware store burgled twice in one week
– Owner forced to shut down operations
Singh .O Hardware and General Supplies store located at Lot 2 Plantain Walk, West Bank Demerara was burgled twice over the past week, forcing the owner of the business to shut down his operations. According to 22-year-old Omesh Singh, he has been the victim of several burglaries over the years, but has usually been able to recover swiftly, despite the inaction of the Guyana Police Force.
However, the two separate break and enter incidents, which Singh suspects occurred in the night, saw burglars carting off millions of dollars in cash and hardware items.
Businessman, Omesh Singh
“The first one had to be on Sunday night, because when I go on Monday, I realized that somebody break into the store.”
That incident resulted in Singh losing hardware equipment and a cash register containing close to $30,000.
And while investigations on that matter were in progress, Singh .O Hardware and General Supplies store became a target once more.
“I think is the same people who break-in on Monday. I think they probably weren’t satisfied with what they carry way first, so they come back. But this time they carry way everything…they empty the store,” Singh lamented.
According to Singh, the thieves gained entry into the well secured building by breaking a concrete wall and wrenching out a metal door at the back of the store. It is unclear as to whether anyone might have witnessed the break-in.
The businessman told Kaieteur News yesterday, that prior to his West Bank Demerara store being emptied, the hardware unit that he operates in the King Panel building located in La Penitence Georgetown, was also hit by burglars.
Singh was also robbed last year, during the time when he did drive-by selling of hardware supplies.
While the previous robberies have resulted in significant losses, which totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars, Singh told this newspaper that last Friday’s burglary has made a significant impact on his life.
Singh .O Hardware and General Supplies store located at Lot 2 Plantain Walk, West Bank Demerara
He said that he is not only forced to shut down his business, but to also restart from scratch.
“I have loans that I have to repay and bills that I have to pay, so it’s not easy. I invested all my savings into this business, and it did going well. But now me ain’t sure what to do, but it look like I gah start over from scratch. It hard, very hard…”
Singh explained that ever since the first break-in last week, he arranged to have a security guard stationed at his store. The guard was supposed to report for work on Saturday evening last.
“…but before the man could start work, dey rob the store again.”
Singh said that the matter has been reported to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station, but he is not sure whether the ranks there will be able to locate the perpetrators.
“The first time I get robbed, was over $200,000, but police never found the people, but ah really hoping that dey find dem this time, because I might be able to get back my stuff,” an optimistic Singh said.
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