WESTERN BUREAU:
TWO BOMBS threats last week forced international cooking gas supplier Industrial Gases Limited (IGL), to shut down its filling plant on Spanish Town Road and call in professional help from the United States to check the premises.
"We received intelligence on two occasions this week that there was the possibility of something being planted, one on the weekend and again one day this week. We could not take it lightly so we called in the bomb squad and professionals from Enron, our parent company overseas," Shirley Sterling, IGL's marketing manager, said on Friday.
The threats came just days after IGL officials had 32-year-old Dennis Collins, one of its contracted drivers, arrested and charged for embezzlement and conspiracy to defraud by allegedly using its equipment to fill gas cylinders belonging to another company.
"We had noticed irregularities and had the driver followed. We caught him in action and had him arrested and we are taking the matter to court because it is an unsafe practice and safety does not take a second place to anything here," said Mrs. Sterling.
Mr. Collins, who was remanded in custody when he appeared in court to answer the charge on August 22, is booked to reappear in court this Tuesday. No link has been made between the arrest and the bomb threats.
Mrs. Sterling said that although no bombs had been found, the company has beefed up its security and counselled its staff to be more vigilant.
