Three armed, masked bandits stormed a general store at Cotton Tree Village, West Coast Berbice around 7:45 pm on Monday and escaped with $2M in cash while firing a shot in the air.
Police sources in Berbice have said that five persons from the area have since been taken into custody in connection with the robbery.
Dennis Kunjbehari told Stabroek News that the bandits, two of whom carried long guns and another, a pistol, also carted off a quantity of phone cards worth $80,000 belonging to the Guyana Telephone & Telegraph Co and Digicel.
He said the last customer had just left the store and he was about to close up when two of the bandits entered the store while the other kept watch at the door.
One of his two daughters was checking the cash from the day’s sales when one of the men asked to purchase a cigarette. Not realizing that he was a bandit, she turned to get it when he pointed a gun at her.
Kunjbehari said he and his wife were in the sitting room adjoining the shop when they heard their daughters screaming and ran to investigate.
The bandits then turned their attention to the couple, ordering them, as well as the man’s brother who was visiting from overseas, to lie on the floor. During that time his wife happened to raise her head and one of the bandits gun-butted her.
They then demanded money and jewellery and Margaret pointed to a bag in the shop that contained cash. They took that along with the day’s sales from a drawer but they were still not satisfied.
Kunjbehari said he was trying to escape through the side door to get help when the bandits grabbed him by the neck and took him up the stairs. Afraid that the bandits would shoot his family he said he handed over some local and foreign currency that was supposed to be used to make purchases.
After the 15-minute ordeal the bandits then escaped on foot through a street. According to Kunjbehari, a bandit fired the shot in the air after a resident who lives two doors away, returned home in his car.
Meanwhile, other residents who saw the men with the guns before the robbery ran indoors and switched off their lights and closed up tightly.
