Man held for $4.3M Sarjoo robbery

An East Ruimveldt man has been detained by police in connection with the $4.3M Roy Sarjoo robbery.

According to reports the man was taken into custody on Saturday last after being pointed out at an America Street location.

On October 24th nine gunmen operating from a Canter truck ambushed and robbed cambio dealer Roy Sarjoo of close to $4.3M before beating him during a 15-minute attack on busy Third Avenue and Church Road, Subryanville.

According to a police source, on Saturday last the suspect was upstairs at A&N Sarjoo building on America Street imbibing in the company of others when he was spotted. Stabroek News understands that the police were called and they responded promptly.

The suspect was arrested and is expected to appear in court sometime today. A source also told Stabroek News that the man has had several brushes with the law in the past and was recently deported from the US.

Following the robbery several persons were taken into custody for questioning but were all subsequently released. Initial reports are that the persons were detained after their telephone numbers were found in a cellular phone which was picked up by police from the robbery scene in Subryanville.

On the day of the incident Sarjoo, 36 years, of A&N Sarjoo Cambio of America Street, Georgetown was attacked and robbed by nine men, all armed with handguns. The businessman and his eight-year-old daughter and Mohamed Raza, an employee, were travelling in his car along Third Avenue when he observed a white Canter truck blocking his path ahead at Church Road. He became suspicious and attempted to turn around but the armed men jumped off the truck and rushed toward his vehicle. Reports had stated that the bandits held Sarjoo and Raza at gunpoint and took away the cambio dealer’s licensed 9mm pistol with 17 rounds, along with $1.5M and US$14,000 ($2,848,300) and a bag in the vehicle and escaped in the truck.

At the time Sarjoo was taking his daughter home from school.

A large crowd converged on the scene of the robbery minutes after and parents of children attending Mae’s quickly rushed to the school to escort them home. Speaking to Stabroek News at the scene, Sarjoo said that he had just picked up his daughter from Mae’s and was heading west along Third Avenue when the bandits’ Canter truck came up on Church Road and blocked his path at the intersection. Sarjoo said he tried desperately to reverse his vehicle as some of the bandits jumped out of the truck and ran to his car. His vehicle ended up precariously perched over a trench. He was then dragged from the vehicle along with his daughter and one of his workers. Placing him to lie on the ground, Sarjoo said the gunmen relieved him of his firearm and ran through his pockets, collecting a sum of cash which he could not quantify. The gunmen then attacked his worker who was holding a bag containing local and foreign currency. The bandits relieved the worker of the bag and while still on the ground Sarjoo said he made an attempt to wrestle with one of the gunmen who then threatened to shoot his daughter.

Back in 1998 a gang of gunmen had robbed and murdered Sarjoo’s father, Neville Sarjoo, at his Water Street cambio. (Jenelle Carter)