By Nigel Williams
Five armed bandits robbed a general store at Eccles, East Bank Demerara yesterday and the proprietor's elderly father-in-law collapsed and died on hearing the news.
Kanhai's General Store at Eccles, East Bank Dmerara which was robbed yesterday by five armed bandits. (Clairmonte Marcus photo)
Proprietor of Kanhai's General Store, Fazil Mohamed and his wife Nadia Khan who live at Flamboyant Avenue, Eccles Housing Scheme surrendered some $350,000 in cash, jewellery and phone cards to the bandits in yet another attack on the East Bank.
The bandits escaped from the police after ranks were said to have refused to cross a trench to give chase. One man told Stabroek News: "There was a clear chance for the police to shoot these men, because when deh come the men dem were now running away about 100 metres away from them, but the police refused to cross the trench and went around on another road and it was then the men escape."
Nadia's elderly father
Shamsudar Khan who was sick, when told of the
robbery collapsed and died.
The drama began to unfold at around 11.15 am
when a grey car entered the East Bank village
and dropped off the five men. One resident said
the car put the men off some 20 metres away from
the store and the driver parked at the side of
the street remaining inside. The resident
recalled that the bandits appeared to have
screened the store earlier since they did not
hesitate in marching inside. Once they entered,
a customer Abdul Jabbar along with another
customer were the first persons they met. Jabbar
who is a taxi driver said the men came up to him
and ordered him and the other customer to lie
face down which they did.
Stabroek News understands that the other
customer is from Essequibo and that he was
relieved of some $20,000. Jabbar said while he
and the other man were on the floor two of the
five men checked all of their pockets. He said
he was carrying his wallet with a small sum of
cash and the bandits took everything along with
his hire car key. Jabbar recounted that as he
was being searched he watched as three of the
five men, climbed over the counter and held-up
Nadia.
Nadia said three of the men jumped over the
counter and one of them held Baksh by his shirt
and asked him where the drawer was. He showed
the men the drawer with the day's sales along
with other cash from the previous day. He said
that after collecting all of the money the
bandits asked him for more.
Nadia said she told the bandit that her
brother-in-law was not the owner of the store
and he did not have the money. The woman who is
also pregnant said that as soon as she uttered
those words to the bandit he turned his
attention to her and with the assistance of the
other two they pushed her into the bedroom where
she delivered a handbag full of jewellery and
cash to them. But the bandits still asked for
more and when she told them that she had no more
one of them chucked her out of the room while
the other two continued their search of the
room.
She said they spent another three minutes inside
before jumping over the counter, rejoining their
accomplices and fleeing the scene.
Another eyewitness told this newspaper that he
saw the bandits running east into the street
after the robbery. He said the five were about
to approach the grey car in which they had
arrived, but before they did so a few cane
harvesters in the area had begun gathering near
the car. He said the driver apparently panicked
and he quickly sped out of the area leaving the
bandits stranded. The five bandits however
continued to run and desperately cleared a
trench at the back of housing scheme, ran
through the Industrial Site and fled into a
canefield. The canefield had been recently
harvested and it was clear so that anyone could
have seen the fleeing men.
Another man told this newspaper that the police
were shown where the bandits fled and they
proceeded to the area. He said that he allowed
them to climb onto his car so that they could
see over some thick bushes on the other side of
the canefield. He said the five policemen saw
the bandits who were some 100 metres away from
them, but instead of them going after the men
the police officers tried to avoid crossing the
trench. He said they used another road, which
would have led into the canefield, but before
they even got close to the bandits from that
route the men had already disappeared.
The
canefield
Stabroek News arrived at that point on the scene
along with other members of the media. Personnel
from at least three media houses went down into
the canefield area along with a policeman. About
twenty minutes of trekking through rugged
terrain yielded nothing, but then a blue and
white minibus suddenly appeared in the distance
some three hundred metres away. The bus had
driven out from the canefield and had stopped
abruptly. At this point the tension was
indescribable.
The police rank who was present called for a
cell phone to request backup. By this time he
had his weapon in his hand. Then someone said a
person had emerged from the bushes, joining the
bus. This person was followed by about three
more. The media workers and the police rank
prepared for the worst.
The members of the media were now either
crouching behind one of the two vehicles on the
scene, or, in the case of photographers, trying
to use their cameras to zoom in on the suspect
minibus and its passengers. The bus then began
to drive slowly through the dirt track. The two
media vehicles followed from a safe distance. A
tractor approached from the opposite direction,
bringing with it added suspense. About one
minute after this, the men in the blue and white
bus, realising they were being pursued, came to
a stop on a bridge. The occupants slowly got out
and it was revealed that the men were all
residents of Eccles who had gone fishing.
Back at the store, a tearful Mohammed said, "right
now I am thinking about going away from this
country. I always said to myself when I
saw businessmen like myself getting rob everyday
that one day would be my turn and so it was
today."
On Wednesday, gunmen attacked a rumshop operated
by Charles Sarjoo at Friendship also on the East
Bank and robbed and beat him. The bandits kicked
and beat Sarjoo's pregnant daughter and she had
to seek medical attention.
Thursday, October 24, 2002