Guard chopped in $18,000 robbery

POLICE have launched a major manhunt for three bandits who on Monday night chopped, tied up and left for dead a security guard before making off with over $18,000 in cash and items from a Freeport foam factory. Investigators believe Estate Constable (EC) Anthony Chase, employed with SMART security firm, would have bled to death had he not untied himself during the wee hours of yesterday morning and sought help. His left forearm and right index finger were almost severed in the cutlass attack. According to police reports, around 10.45 pm on Monday, EC Chase, of Orange Field Road, was on duty at Vicmol Factory, off Bholai Trace, Chase Village, when three men — two armed with cutlasses and the third with a firearm — attacked the guard.

The men chopped EC Chase about his arms. When he collapsed, the bandits tied Chase up with his own belt and pieces of cloth. As a helpless Chase lay bleeding profusely, the intruders ransacked the factory and stole $16,000 in cash, a radio and a grinder valued $2,000. They then escaped on foot. Some five hours later, at 3.30 am, a still badly bleeding Chase somehow managed to untie himself and walked to a nearby company where he called out to security guards on duty for assistance. Chase was taken to the Chaguanas Health Centre where he was treated and subsequently transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Up to late yesterday, no arrests had been made and Cpl Satnarine is continuing investigations.