As investigations continue into the fire which completely gutted a Patentia Housing Scheme building that was converted into a storage bond, the incident is now being treated as possible arson.
This was according to a source close to investigations who further related that the Police and the officials from the Guyana Fire Service are working on several leads to prove this theory.
He noted that the owners of the bond are expected to be further questioned based on new information reaching the investigative team. However, fire officials have already ruled out that the fire was as a result of an electrical default, since the building did not have any power supply.
The official also stated that the contents of the building were highly combustible and the possibility exists that the perpetrators used that to their advantage. Another source told Guyana Times that the building was locked for quite some time, but it was only recently it was converted to a storage bond.
The source close to the investigation said that the team is working on the theory that the fire might have been purposely set to collect the insurance claims. Guyana Times understands that after the building was converted to a storage bond it was insured.
It was reported that at about 06:30h on Wednesday last, smoke was seen bellowing from the bond located at Lot 21 East Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, but soon after, the smoke turned to flames.
The bond was reportedly subjected to several robberies in recent times with the latest being two Thursday’s ago when two men were spotted in the yard, but for some unknown reason, the Police were not called in to investigate. The losses are estimated to be close to $30 million.
