New home owners of Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD) are calling on the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to urgently organize a sting operation to capture the heartless and barefaced thieves who have been breaking into people’s houses, escaping with as little as a PVC pipe or worse, emptying the entire property.
The Guyana Standard understands that new and incomplete homes are being raided in the area almost every night with the suspects organizing their own transportation to move the stolen articles.
Two Sundays ago, five houses—with minor repairs remaining to complete them—were raided in the same street in just one night. Some of the common items being stolen include toilet set, sink, PVC pipes, tiles, tools, cements, steels, doors and windows among others.
Doors and windows are being ripped from the structures. Two days ago, construction workers were present at a building site when they noticed a canter truck with four men pulled up at the house in front of their work site around 13:00 hrs.
“We see the canter come and these men come out and call off for us so we raise our hands and continued working because we thought they were the owners since they were gaffing as per normal. We see them packing items in the canter and then they left,” the workers said.
They further explained that they only found out that the men were thieves when the actual home owner visited them later that day to ask if they had seen anything suspicious earlier.
“Apparently, these men broke the side window and went in but we couldn’t see the entrance and we were doing a lot of work that included drilling and hammering and there were other workers in the area making noise so we didn’t pay attention,” the workers explained.
Guyana Standard spoke with a victim, Kelon Fraser who explained that his wife and children are scared to move into the area. Now, they are stuck with paying rent and mortgage for the house.
“I took a loan to build this house. It finish, just the outside has to paint. We were waiting on the electrician to wire the house to move in when these men empty my house. They break up one of my windows trying to remove it, they take my sink and cable to do the electrical work, and they break my door. These men left me in debt and frustrated. I am a poor man, I can’t afford to buy back these things,” Fraser said.
In addition, a resident in the area has a video of a man climbing a utility pole to steal a light used to brighten the street.
Police ranks suspect that the raiders are coming from the Mocha, EBD area since most of the suspects who have been charged are residents of that area. Additionally, the two villages are located next to each other.
“During the day, these men are walking and riding around, checking out the area to see where they can rob so at night now, they come with their crew,” a police source said.
The rank advised that home owners should not employ persons walking around asking for jobs since these same people are sometimes the ones returning to raid the construction site.
