Seven held for $18.5M Rose Hall robbery

Jan 26, 2022 News

– motorcycle with ID card recovered

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – A teenager is among seven persons arrested for the robbery of a businesswoman of some $18.5M at Rose Hall, Berbice on Monday. And police have also recovered the get-away motorcycle and the ID card of one of the suspects in the crime.

Regional Commander, Boodnarine Persaud

The Albion businesswoman, Nalini Mangali was attacked and robbed at Rose Hall Town, Corentyne on Monday morning when she and one of her staff were about to make a deposit of cash and cheques at the Republic Bank, Rose Hall Branch.
Regional Commander, Boodnarine Persaud during a press briefing on Tuesday at his office in New Amsterdam disclosed that a motorcycle suspected to be the getaway mode of transportation for the suspect and another was found abandoned in a trench in Topoo, Albion, Corentyne, Berbice, on Monday night. He also revealed that an identification card was found in the seat of the motorcycle. That ID was checked out and it led police to an address on the lower Corentyne. At the said address, a 17-year-old was found and the teen told police that the ID card belonged to his brother who has not been located as yet. The teen was taken into custody subsequently.
Meanwhile, the six other suspects in custody were arrested on Monday following the robbery and all are said to be “known characters” from Nigg, New Amsterdam and other parts of the Corentyne in Region Six. They have all denied that they played any role in the robbery during interrogation by investigators. Additionally, Commander Persaud divulged that ranks are reviewing CCTV footage provided by business places, thus far, the footage revealed that one suspect grabbed the bag of cash from the victim and joined an unidentifiable male waiting on a motorcycle a few metres away. It was based on the image of the motorcycle in the footage that gathered further information that led to the discovery of the motorcycle.
Mangali and a clerk attached to the family business at Albion, East Berbice Corentyne left the home (also situated at the same location) for the bank on Monday morning in a car. They were in possession of $18,577,500 along with cheques amounting to millions in a black bag. The monies and cheques were to be deposited at Republic Bank, Rose Hall Branch. However, when the businesswoman and her clerk arrived in the vicinity of the bank, they were approached by a lone gunman who demanded that the clerk lie on the floor of the vehicle. Upon doing so, the gunman grabbed the bag from the back seat of the car, ran away on foot and subsequently joined another waiting for him on a motorcycle bearing no licence plate.
In 2014, the Mangali’s husband was also robbed of a large sum of cash as he was about to make a deposit at the said bank. He was robbed a sum of $10M. Several persons were arrested and charged for that robbery. In addition, the Commander has indicated that in light of the robbery that he will be strategising with ranks to possibly have more police presence in the area. He is also urging businesses to seek the assistance of the police when transporting large sums of cash to the banking institutions, which he said will be free of cost to the business owners. He is also urging businesses to invest in high-definition CCTV cameras, which he said will deter criminals from wanting to commit brazen attacks and robberies. He said it will also assist the police tremendously if there is an incident and the police have to review CCTV footage.