– bandit shot by accomplice
Police are hunting a criminal gang at Berbice that abandoned a boat and other stolen items after one of the gunmen was accidentally shot in the leg by another during a robbery attack on Tuesday night.
According to reports, the gang of five masked men pounced on fisherman Brijanand Carpen and his employee Lalchand Seepersaud at the Albion koker and robbed them at gunpoint. It was while one of the men was assaulting Seepersaud with a gun that the weapon went off and injured his accomplice.
Police said in a press release issued last night, that around 8.30 pm on Tuesday the five men, four of whom were armed with guns and cutlasses robbed Carpen called ‘Rakesh’, 35, a fisherman, of Chesney Front, Corentyne of a fishing boat, an engine and other articles at Albion Foreshore, Corentyne.
The victim and a crew member came in from sea with their cache and were awaiting market, when the suspects held up and robbed them of the articles mentioned. Three other fishermen who were in the area were held hostage by the bandits who took them all to another location where they were subsequently freed, the police release said.
Carpen’s stolen wooden boat and other items including an outboard engine, a quantity of fish and foodstuff were recovered intact yesterday at Port Mourant by the police. The boat was docked some 200 metres out in the water.
Sources said the police have scanned hospitals and private clinics in the Berbice area in search of the wounded man but have come up empty. Health personnel in the region are currently on the lookout for any gunshot injuries.
Reports are that when the gunman was injured the gang ordered Carpen and Seepersaud to lift the injured man into the boat then demanded that the fisherman drive the boat to Rose Hall foreshore. Carpen followed the orders and drove to Rose Hall, but on reaching there the gang threw him and Seepersaud along with the other three men out of the boat and made off.
The five men then walked from Rose Hall to Albion where they reported the robbery to the police.
It was some two hours after the incident initially occurred at Albion that the police were alerted. A search was reportedly conducted on Tuesday night for the men.
This newspaper was told that the police are hunting the gang, but have no current leads except that one of the members is nursing a gunshot wound.
Investigations are continuing
