-were dressed in women’s garb

Four armed bandits pounced on a family at Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice around 7:30 last evening as they were returning from the mosque and terrorized and robbed them of $800,000 in cash and jewellery.

Reports are that the men pointed guns at Alim Khan, his wife, Fana and two of their children while demanding money and jewellery.

They also stripped off the jewellery that Fana and her daughter were wearing and threatened to “carry away me daughter if dem na get more.”

The bandits then beat Khan and tied everyone up with pieces of cloth.

They also ransacked the bottom flat of the house where they found $100,000 in cash. Not satisfied, the bandits who were dressed in women’s clothing asked for her eldest son, Aslam by his name.

Fana responded that her son was still at the mosque and that “you gat to lose me so me can go an get he.” Just then Aslam, who was riding home on his bicycle, noticed something was amiss and made an about-turn.

He also started to scream, alerting the neighbours. This caused the bandits to slap Fana before escaping through the backyard on foot.

The neighbours subsequently ran out of their homes with their cutlasses in case the bandits returned.  They also helped to untie the family. When this newspaper contacted the family shortly after the incident they were badly shaken.

The police responded promptly and scoured the area but the bandits had already disappeared. They then returned to the house and took statements.