Cops urge caution after $7m Western Union heist
Published:Wednesday | June 8, 2022 | 12:10 AM
The St Mary police are urging business operators to ramp up security measures and to increase vigilance following a break-in at the Oracabessa outlet of Western Union on Tuesday morning.
Approximately $7 million was stolen.
Superintendent Bobette Morgan-Simpson, who heads the St Mary Police Division, told The Gleaner that the intruders wore masks and also spray-painted security cameras before prising off the grille and removing a vault containing Jamaican and foreign currencies.
A HawkEye security response team was alerted to the scene after 3 a.m.
Western Union outlets in Portmore, St Catherine, and Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, have been targeted by thieves in the last two years.
Morgan-Simpson noted that the Western Union outlet was properly secured with grilles, surveillance cameras, vault, alarms, and a security response team.
She has called for business operators to vet their hires as some hits are inside jobs. The divisional chief has also said that business persons should be on the lookout.
“See who might be coming in to scout out the location – persons just come in, not buying anything but just come in looking around. You have to be careful of those persons, take note of them, look for any distinguishing marks,” Morgan-Simpson said.
“A lot of times when these persons go to do these break-ins or robberies, they usually do their homework.”