UNIFICATION CITY, Margibi – The Total gas station near the airport has suffered another armed robbery, making it four times the local filling station has been attacked by robbers since its construction.

In 2012, another attack left a staff of the station dead and another was shot in the leg while trying to escape the scene.

Sunday’s attack was the second in 2017. In January of this year, the station was hit again, with over US$10,000 taken by the attackers.

Queman Jones, the station’s manager, told The Bush Chicken that the branch was attacked at 2:40 a.m.

“On Sunday morning, I received a call from my supervisor who told me that a security guard from the station ran to his house and informed him that some men who came in a yellow taxi were forcibly making their way into the station,” Jones added.

He said he immediately contacted the head of a local security firm providing security for the facility, who launched an emergency night patrol in pursuit of the attackers.

Jones confirmed the arrest of a cab driver who had just parked in a nearby community few minutes after the attack. He said a private security guard is being interrogated for “providing conflicting information.”

The robbers who made their way through the window of the manager’s office burst into the two safe boxes of the station and made away with over US$6,300.

The gas station is currently being managed through a franchise agreement by Favor Marketing Incorporated of representative-elect Ivar Jones.

Jones said sales from the weekend are usually kept and deposited on Monday. He said the local branch of the bank does not open on Saturday or Sunday.

He said the safe of the Orange agent operating at the station was also broken into, though Jones did not detail the amount lost by the telecommunications company.

Two safes were broken into. Photo: Jefferson Daryoue

Police at the Roberts International Airport are currently interrogating those arrested but confirmed it is too early to come up with a clear finding of the incidence.

Many locals have attributed the continued attack on the facility to darkness at night. The station shuts down operations at 9:45 p.m. each day and resumes early the next morning. The entire area is dark during night hours.

Featured photo by Jefferson Daryoue