28oCCouva businessplace burnt down
STACY MOORE
INVESTIGATIONS are ongoing into a fire which destroyed a restaurant and bar in Couva early yesterday morning. According to a police report, at about 1.30 am, four men entered The Bat and Barrel Restaurant & Bar along Rivulet Road, which at the time was closed.
The men, according to the report, were armed with guns and they ordered security guards to lie on the ground and proceeded to tie his hands. The guards later told police they heard an explosion and saw thick smoke at the back of the building. The intruders were long gone.
The guards managed to free themselves and fled the scene. Couva police and firemen responded within minutes, but the building was already engulfed in flames and could not be saved. A manager of the restaurant said that he businessplace was opened two years ago and had been broken into on two occasions.
“Late last year in the space of one month burglars broke into the place twice and stole cash and other valuables. They were reported to the police. Right now I don’t know the status of those investigations, but I know one man was held in connection with both break-ins,” the manager said.
Losses have been placed in the millions and ten people are now unemployed. No arrest has been made and investigations are continuing.