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Home Affairs Minister
Gail Teixeira[/align]
by Gordon French
Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
E-mail: milldoc2000@yahoo.com
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: After weeks of heightened criminal attacks directed at the businesses in and around the capital city of Georgetown, a daring late night robbery that left a business man dead has sent shock waves throughout Guyana's business community.
Harry Rambarran, 52, one of the directors of RBS channel 13, a local television station, was killed when he attempted to evade bandits who shot at his car, as he and another female employee left his business place opposite a DIDCO factory, in Ruimveldt.
Police reports said the incident occurred at 23:00 hrs and investigators believe that the attack was carried out by four male suspects. Police also said that the businessman sustained injuries and subsequently lost control of his car which collided with a lamp post on Mandela Avenue.
Police confirmed that the bandits then confronted the duo and robbed the female employee of $4,000 GC.
Rambarran sustained gunshot injuries to his left hand and left chest and died before receiving medical attention at a city hospital.
Police are on the hunt for the four suspects whom they say stuck up the driver of another motor car and used the car as a getaway vehicle. The car was later found abandoned in another section of town.
Investigators say that so far the only motive is robbery and for the business community that is certainly not good news after a spate of robberies directed at business owners and their businesses.
The recent murder follows closely remarks by Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira that “Business communities cannot expect the Police to deal with all these issues - they have to invest.�
“You cannot say, there would not be any crime, but what you have to do is to make it difficult for criminals,� according to a Government Information News Agency (GINA) report.
The GINA report quoted the Home Affairs Minister as saying, “The President has made it clear that he is willing to assist in terms of duty free concession for them to enhance their security capacity.�
The Minister said that she is yet to receive a request from businesses for duty free concession for high technology surveillance equipment, but she is sure that they are reassessing their own security weaknesses internally.
[align=left]Representatives from the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce & Industry have met with the Home Affairs Minister and the Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix to hammer out a plan to tackle the escalating criminal activities within the business distric[/align]