VAULT STOLEN

Western Union may be the fastest way to send and receive money, but thieves proved to be even faster. On Monday, August 22, the staff turned up for work to find a gaping opening at the back of the building and the three and a half feet tall vault missing.

George Frederick, who manages British American Insurance, the agent for Western Union, said that fortunately there was no money in the vault although there were “very, very important documents” stored in it. {{more}}

He said that from the look of the place, the perpetrators seemed to have had an agenda and were looking specifically for certain things since everything else was intact, though the vault was gone.

Frederick explained: “The incident seemed to have been well planned out. When we moved the vault into the building; it was so heavy that we had to use a crane. So I don’t know how long it took these perpetrators remove the vault from the building.”

He revealed that the heist occurred from the back of the building, where a wrought iron gate and windows were located.

He stressed that he was still trying to come to grips with what happened and admitted that he feels violated by the robbery.

The Western Union manager pointed out that the act disrupted their flow of business at Halifax Street for two days and dampened his spirit since he had just returned from a convention in Hawaii and was ready to work.

Frederick warned that the incident puts other business on the alert, since it shows that all was not well. He also wished that the police department could become more diligent in their performance since, he said, St. Vincent was too small a community for all these strange things happenings.

The building has since been re-secured, but management has future plans to demolish the entire building and put up a new structure.

In recent times, vaults have been stolen from a home at Cane Garden, The Vincentian newspaper and O.T’s Furniture Store.

This Western Union heist brings to four, the number of vaults stolen in the past 12 months here.