Businessman and community activist Inshan Ishmael said crime had escalated in the Bamboo area and extortion is now a growing concern.
On the heels of reports that business owners at Bamboo No.2 were being extorted, with the perpetrators demanding monthly payments exceeding $100,000, Ishmael revealed in an GML report that the Bamboo area will now shut down after hours and become a gated community.
He told the media house: “It is not for $5,000 and $50,000, it’s literally for hundreds of thousands of dollars and they are threats to kill, they are threats to burn down places if they don’t pay or if they go to the police.”
He added, “We’re going to lock down Bamboo after hours. Bamboo is going to be a gated community and we’re not going to ask anybody for approval. This is going to be done because this is to safeguard us and to safeguard our families. Something must be done because the police are just not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
He said Bamboo No 2 businessmen never had to deal with such issues before.
“In times past, we have had robberies and even we have had our Imam being targeted et cetera. It is now going to a whole new level and these are the same businesses that turn around sometimes when it comes to many of these people who are the same criminals, their friends, their families, their whatever … they would come and they would get a discount on their car parts,” he said.
“I mean, it is shocking that they are actually biting the hand that is feeding them. So nothing, nothing is being done because in all the cases so far, we have not heard of cybercrime getting involved and catching anyone. So therefore, everyone is at a loss because if there are demands to pay, somebody has to be collecting, somebody has to be receiving because the criminal does not say here is our wire transfer information, it has to be done with cash. Why is the police not settling up stings?”