Unravelling the loopholes in bank security

Jul 09, 2017 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The talking point in the past week was the attempted robbery on Republic Bank. One of the attackers was killed, but the interest rests with those arrested. It is turning out that some of them were employees of the bank.
A few months back, when people were robbed as soon as they left the bank, it caused some to speculate that persons inside the bank were collaborating with the robbers. There was the view that the security cameras inside the bank would have provided evidence of this, but no one can be certain that these cameras were brought into play.
Now we have this case that suggests that many bank employees were complicit in the attempted robbery. Of course a bank teller was an active participant, but it is now turning out that many people inside the bank were criminals or at least had criminal intent.
News has emerged that apart from the three who attacked the bank there was somebody inside who had knowledge. That person texted a terse message. “Hold. She is not here.” According to reports, that person is in custody.
At one time the bank had a policy that stipulated no cell phone use inside the bank. That rule applied to customers; it said nothing about bank staffers. One is now left to ponder whether there are persons inside who would share private information about the persons making large withdrawals. For one, that person would have had knowledge of the customer’s address, thus allowing the bandits to strike as soon as the person arrives home.
These things will do the bank no good. It is unfortunate that the victims do not have the evidence to file serious claims against the bank. It is not unusual for the bank to run checks on its employees periodically. It would be interesting to see their bank accounts and have them explain any unusual growth in the accounts.
There is another side to this story. People are talking about the now dead Elton Wray. He shattered the perception that violent criminals are people from the other end of society. These are the people who did not do too well in school and could not make themselves productive members of society.
Indeed he was a young man and most of the current crop of criminals are young men. They have a role model who is flashy and who always seems to have wads of cash. These role models have women flocking to them. Other young men want the women too. I have known young women who would tell these young men that they can’t approach any woman with empty hands.
These young men want their women to look flashy so that other men can admire them. It matters not that they may be empty-headed. The main thing is that they are flashy.
Was Wray one of those who had a flashy woman to upkeep or was he preparing himself to own a flashy woman? For starters, he was educated, having pursued a scholarship in agronomy. He was employed and he owned a car, a status symbol for most people.
As people would say, he came from a good home, but it is now filtering out that he was a bit of a maverick. His parents are embarrassed, but they had nothing to do with this. Suffice it to say that they have to look into the faces of people who would be thinking, “Their son was a criminal.”
The bank teller who was involved is another kettle of fish. He too was employed, had to be intelligent or at least, schooled better than the average Guyanese. He knew the lay of the bank and therefore took pains to disguise his identity. I am told that he wore an overall over his work pants and he had a dreadlock wig.
Sitting here and looking back over the events, I am forced to conclude that this was not the first robbery that these young men were attempting. No one picks a bank to enter into the world of crime. People are still asking questions. Why would a reasonably well set young man pick up a gun and try to rob a bank?
There were many young people who saw his salary and wished they could have been earning that sum. But they are content with what they get. They do not contemplate criminal activity. I was one of those who learnt that I should work honestly for what I want and I have no regrets today.
Many, many years ago there were the Prince brothers who robbed the Guyana Rice Board. They helped themselves to the payroll, some $90,000 which was a lot of money at the time, perhaps about $10 million today. They too were intelligent.
I met one of them at the Mazaruni Prisons as he was coming to the end of his sentence and I talked to him about the robbery. He told me a lot of things went wrong. He served twelve years and when last I heard, he was out of the country. He is an old man now, but he did say he regretted losing so many years of his active life.
Intelligent people do not engage in violent crime. They tend to be the white collar criminals, some of whom are being investigated at this time. They were too bright for their own good.

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