– batter owner’s wife
Six men armed with guns and wearing masks stormed a business place at Lot 15A Albion Front, Corentyne on Friday just after 11 pm, and left with some $7 million after battering the wife of the owner.
A police press release said they are investigating an armed robbery that occurred around 23:10 hrs on Friday at Albion, Corentyne, during which businessman Ganesh Prettipaul along with his wife and several customers were attacked and robbed by six masked men, five of whom were armed with firearms.
Investigations revealed that Ganesh Prettipaul and the watchman of his premises were standing outside his grocery shop and liquor restaurant when they were confronted by the six men who held them at gunpoint and took them into the building, the police said.
The business place that was robbed of some $7 million.
Three of the men remained in the business section of the building where a salesgirl and two male customers were held up, while the other three went to the dwelling area where they held up Ganesh Prettipaul’s wife. She was beaten about her face and body by the men who then tied her up, after which they ransacked the home and reportedly took $2.4 million and US$13,000. Three cell phones, $11,500 and a quantity of personal jewellery were also taken away from the salesgirl and two customers after which the men escaped.
Ganesh Prettipaul owner of Crystal Ice
Meanwhile, a customer, Parmesh Ramdass told this newspaper, that he and some other men were drinking just after 11 pm when a group of men entered the shop from the side door and pulled out guns. “Some get long gun some dem short one,” he said adding that they told them to lie face down.
Their cell phones and other valuables were taken away from them. “Dem say if anybody move dem ago shoot awe. So everybody lie down,” Ramdass said. Some of the bandits kept watch over them, while the others went inside. They used the “cue stick”, he said, to beat a few of the persons who were inside the shop.
Ramdass said that because of the masks they wore he could not recognize any of the men.
According to Mrs Chandradai Prettipaul, wife of the owner of the business place, she was just coming from the bathroom, having taken a shower, when two men pounced on her asking her “for the money”.
She told Stabroek News that she give them $700, not realizing that a robbery was taking place. The bandits pushed the money back to her, saying “nah this money, more money”. With this she told them to go to the cashier. But they had already taken what the cashier had.
One of the bandits then left to bring the cashier to her and Mrs Prettipaul said she started to scream to alert neighbours. It was then, she said, that the bandit began to batter her, hitting her with the gun butt and his hands to her face and mouth. One of the bandits shouted, “shoot she,” she said, and the other one took aim, but did not pull the trigger.
The bandits then broke down the door to the upstairs, and took her, with blood spurting from her mouth, and the cashier upstairs with them. They ransacked the entire upstairs for over 45 minutes, she said, then left.
Chandradai Prettipaul who was beaten by the bandits about the face.
Mrs Prettipaul was subsequently taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she was treated and sent away.
Her husband, Ganesh Prettipaul said he was outside with a few friends, when he saw a group of men coming from through the street. He related that they appeared to be drunk as they seemed to be walking close together and staggering.
However, as they got to his business place, he said, they spread out and took out their guns. He said there were about 12 customers in the shop at the time when the bandits took him in and proceeded to beat him about his body with a cue stick and put him to lie on the floor.
He said he had the feeling that some of the bandits were not strangers; that some were locals who knew the area well because the way they operated as if they knew where to look and knew who was who. He said the guard was the first to be taken.
However, Prettipaul said, business will continue until he makes a decision on the way forward. His business place was robbed once in 2006, but the police caught the bandits immediately because of quick response.
He said the money that was stolen on Friday night was from a business transaction that was concluded only a few days ago. “Through this loss my business is in stakes right now,” he said.
You see when this country develops its thinking and attitude towards crime then all of this will stop. When will some people learn to take their monies to the bank???? When will the banks start a campaign where you can purchase almost anything from any store with just your debit or credit card????
Well if they don’t people will still continue to get robbed blind and very stupid.
Sandhurst , your point is taken but guyanese are not safe in their homes and places of business because of the criminal elements , many of whom are destroying “Sweet GT” , socio-economically . Guyana is not a good country for foreigners to invest their hard earned money , not even for the citizens . The Joint-forces must be stop and search vehicles and the homes of suspects , because at present , Guyana is a comfort zone for criminals and corrupt public officials . The government of Guyana must seek assistance fro he European Community and the USA , in order to deal with these miscreants . Sandhurst , you need to sign up for a 2 year tour of duty with the army.
You are so right Sandhurst,sometimes I wonder why certain people have those large sums in their homes,what is the reason?But as you said until a lot of things change in that country,there will always be the same crimes repeating over and over,the ones committed by the hard working law abiding citizens and the ones by the parasitical criminals,tst tst!!
SandHurst, I was thinking the same thing. People need to start using their heads.
Business owners often need cash at hand to conduct their business!
And when it “develops”, Cash machines/atms will probably get broken into or stolen. If they can steal things such as transformers, fridge and stove, up-rooting an Atm machine and running down the street with it wouldn’t be too difficult for thieves. If more Atms come into play, you can expect more stick-up for those walking away with cash from ATMs. You can also expect more fraud from financial institutions as we have seen the growing trend lately.
Change will come when the majority of Guyanese don’t support lawless actions and stop making excuses for thieves.
Firstly, welcome back Sandman. Where were you? Someone said that you were back with the straight shooters. Now, I agree with you, more debit and credit cards should be used in business transactions. But, would you in the capacity of a bank executive issue debit or credit cards to poor unemployed villagers who form the bulk of the consumer population in rural communities, whose purchases are penny bread, one pound sugar and some salt? I guess not. The key to businesses securing their property is their ability to understand security strategies. A simple alarm blaring loudly to attract the curiousity of villagers would be a welcome addition to most businesses. ISNM
Happy to see you back Sandhurst
You got me thinking about your comment, Ulric and you have put forward some good arguments about creditworthyness of citizens.
There is however a type of card which can be topped up with cash at a bank and the cardholder uses the card to make purchases until the top-up funds are use up.
This is a pre-pay facility and is available even to the poorest in the population.
Folks, “I is so happy, happy, happy HAPPY. Halleajugah. More robbery and gangs. Blame the government. I is so happy happy happy hap…..”
Nah reddy don’t worry we wont blame jagdeo and his cronies, they dont do anything wrong and god knows how hard he is working out of the country every week at leonora reunion and gossai memorials every weekend to help get this country out of the economic abyss we have been in the past 17 years.
Don’t worry red rover we are all very very appreciative of the great work your poo poo poo and the residents of pooville have been doing for us the past 17 years.
Crime is down, No more blackout, employment is at an all time high, new businesses are being created every week, water is flowing out of the taps without any rust at anytime of the day.
Gun toting bandits have all but been run out of the land, I mean things are great red rover things are great, there is no more corruption in government, the Auditor general is happy to report all the good news you guys have been doing didnt you read it?
Very sad but G$7M as one day taking???? Very doubtful…. It is time the bank remove their charges for ATM cards and transactions so that payment can be made using plastic. When will we learn????
“The money stolen was from a business transaction that was concluded only a few days ago.” When will these people learn……there are places called banks…..Guyanese need to ‘get real’….stop being stupid…..
Maybe having the money at home saved their lives. What if the money was deposited, and the bandits came looking for it the outcome could very well be more devastated.Do you honestly think they would’ve left empty handed?
Here we go again
$7Mill? Who keeps that kind of money at home?
Dem Duh
It sounds like a lot, but in actual physical size that would be 7,000 thousand dollar bills, about the size of two ream of typing sheets. Risky to keep at home in Guyana, but not hard to hide physically. Especially among books, since criminals don’t read, you can hide things from them in books.
Not saying that I am not sympathetic with these victims, but let’s get real – people need to stop using their homes as a banking facility. The owner said the money in the house was from a business transaction a few days ago – and i guess it take that long go to the bank and make a timesly deposit. I wonder if they even have security cameras….
It make no sense at all that these days and age people still keep such large amounts of cash at their homes. The crime wave in Guyana is not new and yet folks stashes large amounts of cash at their home, business and expect miracles or some invisible watchman to safeguard their hard earned cash.
As business men and women, they need to use more common sense and stop thinking that it will happen to the other person and not them. You can’t tell who is who these times and this seems likely to be an inside job also.
“Come on”, it is desperate times and people have been resorting to desperate measures for some times now and have been robbing folks for less – like snatching a chain and cells phone.
Wake up folks and do help yourself and help fight this battle with crime. The police cannot be everywhere. Stopy crying “foul” and learn tb be a little bit more defensive when it comes to your life, the life of your family / friends / workers, your safety and livlihood.
PEACE
I also believe any detailed probe should start in-house. In most cases these individuals can only know if this large amount of money is in the house is from someone who knows about it. These guys do not just guess things they know what they are doing.
Question everyone that may have information regarding this money in the house and have them face the lie detector.
I am very saddened to hear of such a harsh crime being perpetrated on honest hardworking individuals in Guyana.
True, “the police cannot be everywhere”; but in this case, the Police were 260 yards away from the scene of the crime.
Please business ppl bank your hard earn cashas soon asap.use the universal safety and business rules.my parents use to sell cows all the buyers had to reach them at the bank early in the morning where receipts everything to conclude the sale was done. do the same.
45 minutes the bandits were at the place and the Albion Police station is just 260 yards away on the same straight public road, a quick 3-minute walk, a literal stone throw away!
Here is the question I have hack, we used to complain about this same brutality and crime albeit with less frequency when Burnhame was running the country.
Now what exactly has changed in 17 years?
How have we benefited from having a government that was supposed to be protecting indians and be looking after our interests?
Isn’t this PPP govt a sham? blackouts as Suseran exposed the other day is no different than it was 17 years ago, crime is worse, everything is in decay and in decline except for drug exports out of guyana so what gives man what gives?
Samaroo,
How old were you when Burnham was running the country?
Teenager, what diff does it make Rodick?
BULL $???, were there guns and AK47 during burnham time.
did you have a free flow of money, foreign exchange were not available, and you can only leave with US76dollars.
get real when you want to compare,
RodRick,
BS was old enough when Burnham was running Guyana. Samaroo boasted in his blog that he never had problem finding food in Guyana during the PNC reign. He had the good life under the PNC.
Freespeech – your govt turned a blind eye to all the AK47’s coming into the country. Who was running the country when all the guns were coming in your poo poo poo were.
With all that has been going on, people are still keeping large sums of money on their premises. this could very well be a set up.
The bandits knew about his business transaction that is why they choose the right time to attack.Why do some business people in Guyana keep such large amounts of cash on their premises knowing the crime situation there and why did’nt he deposit the money from the business transaction at the bank?They could have been killed but are lucky that maybe one or some of the bandits is/are someone close to them.The only reasons for someone to keep such large amount of cash on them is either to evade tax or is doing some kind of shady business.
I don’t care what no body say this man is a fool. Anyone in Guyana who live through the 2002 – 2006 high crime period should know better and not keep these large sums of money in their homes.
Some of you bloggers and business people could say all you want but bandits do read and do do their homework. This was a well planned and coordinated attack. The place was well stake out, gang members well positioned and the three who went upstairs were confident enough in the other members that they could spend a large part of the 45 minutes in the upper part of building knowing quite well that the police station is yards away. Somebody talk to me here.
First, i have a few questions to ask, what business transaction that Mr. Prettipaul did that netted him USD$35,000(GYD$7,000,000) from this business place? Mind you, in his own words he said “A business transaction” i take that to mean one transaction. Was the USD$13,000 in cash, that the bandits took, part of the business transaction and if so . . . .? This in itself should be a investigation. Is Mr. Prettipaul business place insured? Does Mr. Prettipaul owe/is in debted to someone? My last two questions are asked because the amount stolen might be inflated.
There should be laws that prohibits money transaction/s above GYD$2,000,000 to be conducted in the form of CASH and All such transactions should be conducted through a financial Institution. Also there should be an understandable sum of CASH that private citizens could have in their homes.
I think that if you are found with more than USD$10,000 in the States you are investigate to it source, regardless if you own a business or not. Does Guyana has any such or similar Laws?
This incident reminds me of a similar situation in Annadale during the 2002 – 2006 period, where the bandits rob a businessman and his family and members of his family told reports that the bandits were asking specifically for the GYD$8,000,000 he had in his house. As one blogger said earlier the police need to start investigating persons close to Mr. Prettipaul.
Least but not last did Mr. Prettipaul paid VAT/TAXES on this GYD$7,000,000 transaction or the bandits when with the taxes too?
I wish everyone affected by this brutal and traumatic experience a speedy recovery.