ROBBERS STRANGLED TWO GUARDS AT OGLE AERODROME

Shawnel Cudjoe

TWO elderly security guards stationed at Air Services Ltd, located at Ogle Aerodrome, East Coast Demerara, were beaten and strangled early yesterday morning by bandits who then fled the scene in one of the guards’ car.

TWO elderly security guards stationed at Air Services Ltd, located at Ogle Aerodrome, East Coast Demerara, were beaten and strangled early yesterday morning by bandits who then fled the scene in one of the guards’ car.

The bodies of Hemraj Saroop, 60, and Chandradat Arjun, 50 were discovered by workers of Air Services who turned on for the early shift around 05:15 h. Saroop’s body was found by the hanger, while Arjun was found in the ladies’ washroom.

According to reports, the bodies bore marks of violence to the faces and hands and ropes were tied around their necks.

General Manager of Air Services Ltd Mr. Fizal Khan said that the aim of the attack was the money kept in a safe inside the accounts department.

He said the handle of the safe was broken off and several dents in it indicated that a chisel or some other tool had been used to force the safe open. However, the men were unsuccessful.

They took away two computers, one of which was the security system and another from the flying school simulator system. Both men were unarmed at the time of the attack.

At Saroop’s lot 33 Crown Dam, Industry, ECD home, neighbours gathered to mourn with the family. They told this newspaper that they had been invited over for an Easter Monday celebration which soon turned into mourning with the tragic news.

His wife, Lila called ‘Honey’, 56, said she received the message around 07:00 h. According to the woman, about 06:15 h she suspected something was amiss since her husband never comes home later than 06:10. “I suspect something happen and I called my daughter who got the message that he died”, the woman said.

He and his wife had been married for 38 years and according to Lila, they had a good, problem-free relationship.

He was a quiet man who was always good to everybody in the neighbourhood,” one relative said yesterday.

Relatives said his car, a blue-green Toyota Carina PHH 3445, in which the bandits fled, was recently purchased to assist his wife in taking her stuff to sell at the Cummings Lodge Secondary school.

Saroop’s relatives were also upset that his car was allowed to leave the compound without another guard nearby not even checking to see if anything was amiss. His cellular phone was missing.

Saroop, who had been working there for the past three years, is the father of two and grandfather of four.

Surujdai Arjun, 45, said that the family is deeply saddened by the loss of her husband who she described as a caring person.

Arjun of lot 969 Cummings Lodge, ECD said she received the message around 07:00 h but was told that her husband had met with an accident at his workplace.

He said that her son, Gaindalall, 19 and neighbours went to Ogle where they were told that the man had died.

They had been married for the past 21 years and have another eight year old son, Sachin.

She said that it was customary for her husband to call home but he did not. According to Surujdai she was not worried since she thought he had called her son, who was not at home, on his cellular phone.

Chandradat had been working at Air Services Ltd for the past 15 years.

Relatives of both families were upset because they had not been contacted by anyone from the men’s workplace but instead received the news about their loved ones death from strangers.