Four armed bandits on Wednesday night swooped down on a Nismes, West Bank Demerara service station robbing employees of cash and jewellery before escaping.

The robbers, who were all armed with “small guns” and wore masks, forced the three employees to lie on the floor, hitting them while relieving them of money and jewellery during a 12-minute ordeal. Though the police responded quickly when contacted, they were unable to apprehend anyone.

The still-shaken proprietress of the On the Go Service Station at Nismes, Guytree Singh told Stabroek News yesterday that a container had arrived on Wednesday and the manager was outside examining it while two other employees were at the gas pumps when the men attacked. It was just about 7pm.

She was behind the counter of the Service Station’s mini-mart and was not seen by the bandits. She recalled that the four men split up and two ran to the gas pumps while the others headed to the container. The bandits forced the two pump attendants to lie on the floor and relieved them of $10,000 and $40,000 respectively. They also grabbed cellular phones, $10,000 in phone cards and hit the attendants, though no one was seriously injured.

Meanwhile, the other two bandits had run over to the container and confronted the manager. The bandits hit him in the face and relieved him of jewellery along with his wristwatch. Singh said the bandits did not enter the mart where she was. “All I hear is ‘go down,’” she stated and related that she immediately crouched behind the counter.

She said it was only when a car pulled into the gas station that the bandits left; they escaped along a dam towards the Demerara River.

Singh was loud in praise of the police response. “They were well alert. I could not expect better,” she stated. The police searched the area but did not find anyone.

Singh was still traumatized yesterday and said that this is the first time that a robbery had occurred at her service station. She said it was opened in October this year when she had returned to Guyana. (Gaulbert Sutherland)