Police probing yesterday’s $600,000 phone heist at Gulf City Mall, La Romaine are investigating whether the suspects had inside help.
Investigators said there are many critical questions to be answered as to how four armed bandits were able to use a hammer to break the main entrance glass door of a manned mall and escaped with 98 Samsung and iPhone mobile phones along with associated accessories from R&J Cell Tech Ltd within three minutes.
Officers said based on video footage, the suspects went directly to the store on the upper level of the mall and again used the hammer to break the glass door and showcases.
Reports stated that around 7.25 pm Thursday, the store’s owner Rabindranath Maharaj, 60, locked up and left the mall.
Around 4.15 am, yesterday, he received a notification from his Blink Vigilance Alarm Monitoring System of a break-in.
When he went to the store, it had already been raided.
Based on the reports investigators received, several of the security officers were attending to another issue in another area of the mall.
The guard manning the entrance was tied up by the bandits.
Their identities were concealed by T-shirts over their faces.
The robbery came a month after Maharaj was exonerated on four charges of extortion and demanding money by menace. It was alleged that he demanded over $200,000 from contractor Rajkumar Ramkissoon during a seven-year period.
When Maharaj first appeared in court charged with the four offences in February 2015, his attorney Keith Beckles submitted that he was innocent and was a victim of fraud.
Beckles also claimed it was ironic his client was charged, as he was a victim of a dishonest cheque allegedly issued by Ramkissoon.
However, in a telephone interview, Maharaj blamed rampant crime and unemployment as the reason for the crime.
Although there are several other mobile phone outlets near his store, he said iPhones were hot sellers and R&J Cell Tech Ltd was a major dealer in the country.
He said it was strange how the robbery occurred and most of the security was not aware of what was taking place at the mall.
“This is very strange, that they broke the front entrance. Four men armed with guns and the security said they held him up.
“The alarm went off at 4.07 and at 4.08 I received the called on my cellphone.
“These bandits knew exactly where they were coming. The guard we spoke to said the men held him up with a gun. They told him to lie on the ground and not to move.
“This is very strange,” Maharaj said.
Police are warning members of the public against buying Samsung handsets and iPhones from off the streets, as they could be receiving stolen property, which is also a crime.
Maharaj has been robbed over 14 times in the last 14 years.
The police has asked that anyone coming into contact with street sellers of such phones to contact the San Fernando CID at 652-2564.