– Patrons of the National Stadium urged to take precautions

SUNDAY last, while thousands of Guyanese gathered in their numbers to witness the Guyana Amazon Warriors face off with the Trinbago Knight Riders at the Guyana National Stadium, two young men made life miserable for some fans. Rajin Tulsidas and Gary (only name given) were robbed of a pair of Serengeti Sunglasses and a Samsung Galaxy Smartphone respectively, in what would have gone down as a case of “simple larceny’ until the thieves decided they needed to car to make their escape, leading to a hijacking.

The duo had just left the cricket match at around 23:00 hours and were heading to Rajin’s car which was parked in front of the M.S Supermarket, 7 Layton Avenue Nandy Park, East Back Demerara when two other young men, described as teenagers, confronted them and held them at gunpoint.

The gunmen reportedly fired behind the duo in an attempt to scare them and damaged a Toyota Hilux and Mitsubishi Canter from the supermarket in the process. The duo was then robbed and the gunmen ran over the road to hijack a car to make their escape.

The hijacked car belonged to Ganesh Persaud of La Grange, West Bank Demerara. Perasud and his family left the stadium at around 23:00 hours and was driving his car around at Peter’s Hall in an attempt to easily maneuver out of the heavy stadium traffic when he witnessed the robbery.

The gunmen ran over the road and demanded that he continue driving. Persaud said that he refused to comply with them and came out of the car. It was at this point that the gunmen took away his car keys and made their escape.

Ganesh described the two perpetrators as young men who seemed to be about 19 years of age. The car, PLL 1699, was a Silver Toyota Carina 212 with “SWEETNESS” written at the front in yellow. Persaud and his wife Nandi have also said that the car also contained many valuable documents including ID and Bank Cards.

Both parties Rajin and Gary and the Persaud family made reports to the Providence Police Station almost immediately after the incidents occurred.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan has asked the Guyana Police Force (GPF)to analyse auto theft or theft of auto parts during major events.

“It is so strange that in that high kind of activity area, with so many policemen, there have been allegations of cars being stolen, and I’ve asked for an analysis,” Ramjattan is quoted as saying by the Government Information Agency (GINA).

It was noted that at the CPL 20/20 cricket hosted over the weekend at the National Stadium, several vehicles were broken into during the matches and car stereos, other valuables and even batteries were stolen.

Commander of ‘A’ Division, Clifton Hicken told GINA that he was not aware of any increase in reported incidents of stolen vehicles. However, he pointed out that police were able to thwart two separate attempted car “break-ins” during last Sunday’s cricket match at the National Stadium.

Commander Hicken advised that persons attending major events park within the designated areas that are usually announced before the event. Motorists are also advised to go to the events early so that they can park their vehicles in a suitably safe location.

Alternatively, patrons can make arrangements to be dropped off and collected by fellow drivers, at the end of the event, if they are uncomfortable with the parking facilities provided.