BUSINESS houses must take extra precaution when sending employees to deposit large amounts of cash with the banks.
This is important in light of recent incidents of large amounts of cash being snatched from employees who were on their way to the banks.
The latest incident occurred Monday, outside Westpac Bank, Point Cruz (see report today on page 2).
A male accountant of Honiara Casino who was on his way to deposit more than $50,000 was attacked by two men.
They took off with the amount of money in a waiting car.
Although police have arrested and detained the driver of the get-away vehicle, the two suspects are still at large.
Police have also yet to recover the stolen cash.
This incident once more reminded us of the rising crime rate that continues to befall our city.
Gone are the days when would-be criminals and robbers do their dirty acts under the cover of darkness.
Today, these people are not hesitant to carry out their intention in broad daylight. As long as they can identify a target, they’ll just go and do it.
Money is often the driving force behind their actions.
Because the majority of our people in Honiara are jobless, some of them will do everything within their means – legal or not – to get money.
Business houses and those looking after their finances would be their ultimate targets.
They know that accountants who normally go to the banks to make deposits have huge stashes of cash in their hands.
Robbery incidents such as the one on Monday often resulted in huge losses for businesses.
It also brings in additional investigative task to our already over-stretched and under-resourced police force.
The onus is therefore on business houses to take precautionary measures when sending their staff with large amounts of cash to the bank.
It’s always safe to get security guards, if you have one, to accompany workers going to the bank.
Simple security and precautionary measures would help prevent incidences of robberies, which often bring heavy losses to businesses and tarnish the reputation of our beloved country.
