EXCLUSIVE: Linstead politician laments $4M loss in gas truck robbery
November 19, 2019Businessman and Councillor for the Treadways Division in Linstead, St. Catherine, Sydney Rose, said he lost at least $4 million in property and cash when three gunmen robbed and beat one of his employees who was delivering cooking gas on Saturday, November 16.
The incident happened in the Savannah area of Linstead about 4PM, said the Jamaica Constabulary Force, which added that the vehicle stolen is a white Isuzu motor truck.
Rose, in an exclusive interview with The Beacon, explained that, based on information provided to him, someone telephoned his cooking gas company and made an order.
His driver went to the location and was delivering the gas when a young man reportedly held him and flung him to the ground. It is alleged that two other men, armed with guns, emerged from nearby bushes.
They took the driver’s documents, TRN, cellular telephone, as well as cash belonging to the driver and to the company.
Rose added: “They asked the driver to proceed over into some bushes with them. They put his clothes over his head and throw him over a ravine… He was able to pull himself out of the bushes and ask a lady who was passing for assistance. She would have lent him her phone and he called…
“The driver was badly beaten… He sought medical attention at a local private institution. Wi couldn’t wait. You know if him goh hospital, dem a goh stay too long,” Rose further said.
He told The Beacon that the gunmen stole his vehicle, which was loaded with cylinders of varying sizes. “You are talking about roughly $4 million worth of losses because the cylinders value a whole lot, and they are full of gas, plus the truck, plus the cash,” Rose added.
He further said his operation has been crippled by the loss of the truck, which, according to him, was not covered by comprehensive insurance.
“It’s like they took mi hands and mi foot. Without a vehicle, mi can’t perform. The vehicle is what we use to do deliveries,” Rose said.
He also expressed surprise that gunmen could have stolen a motor truck so easily while a state of emergency is in effect in Linstead and other parts of St Catherine. “We have a state of emergency, can you believe that and the truck disappeared in thin air?” added Rose.
He noted that this is the second time within about a year that he is losing a truck as a result of theft.
In relation to the previously stolen truck, he explained: “I left it at the driver’s house – right at the gate, and he said the truck just disappeared in thin air.”
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