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Daring mid-day robbery...
Shotgun bandits hold up store
• cart off loot in stolen bus
Two bandits, with a sawn-off shotgun, escaped in a stolen mini-bus with an estimated half-million in cash and a small quantity of jewellery, during a brazen midday robbery on an Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara beverage store yesterday.
Khamechand, the owner of the Circle K store, his wife, Lakraji
Khamechand, and a 15-year-old boy were mercilessly beaten
by the bandits during their repeated demands for money.
The men eventually fled in Khamechand's bus with a bag containing the day's sales, as well as jewellery, after leaving their victims bound and gagged at the back of the premises.
Khamechand's vehicle PDD 1979 was found some hours later and taken to the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station.
The robbery lasted about an hour, but none of Khamechand's neighbours realised that a heist was in progress, until the victims raised an alarm, after the men had left.
Khamechand said that it appeared that the bandits had been observing him for some time, since they seemed to know a lot about his business.
Khamechand, who was too shaken to even remember the licence number of his bus, recalled that he was in his store with his wife and a 15-year-old neighbour, when the two men entered.
Both men wore caps, and one of them had a bag slung over his shoulder.Khamechand, who sells beverages and poultry feed at his store, said that the men asked for two mini-vodkas.
“I tell them that I ain't got mini-vodka, only small XM,” the businessman said.The men gave Khamechand's wife a thousand-dollar note and collected the liquor.
However, just as the woman was about to hand over the change, one of the ‘customers' unslung a bag from his shoulder and pulled out a sawn-off shotgun.
“He put the shotgun to my neck and took all three of us to the back of the shop. They put us to lie down and start to beat us.”The businessman said the men kicked them and repeatedly struck them with the shotgun, while demanding money.To ensure that neighbours and passersby were unaware of the heist, the robbers shut the grill door.
The businessman said that some customers who came to the shop noticed the door was shut, but were told by the bandits that “the skipper gone out on business: check back later.”Khamechand said that his wife handed the gunmen a bag containing the day's sales.But the men wanted more.
“They say ‘this is no kind of money we got here; this is a big business place.'”In their determination to squeeze more cash out of their victims, the men placed a shotgun in Khamechand's mouth. He said they also beat and threatened to kill the businessman's 15-year-old employee, whom they assumed was the business couple' son.
“They ask him ‘where yuh mother got the money?' I had to tell them that he is a neighbour son.”He said the bandits eventually went further into the one-flat building to the couple's living quarters.After unearthing a small quantity of jewellery, the men demanded the keys for Khamechand's mini-bus.
After being told where the keys were hidden, the men bound and gagged their victims, before making off with the vehicle.They reportedly fled in the direction of Vreed-en-Hoop.The abandoned bus was found some hours later.
• Police were yesterday checking potential escape routes for the robbers, but found no sign of the suspects.
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