Lumber dealer’s wife shot in highway hold-up

The wife of a Linden lumber dealer was shot after she refused to hand over a bag of money to robbers in the vicinity of Yarrowkabra, Linden/Soesdyke High–way on Tuesday.

Police, in a statement yesterday, said that a suspect is in custody assisting with investigations.

According to police, around 5:30pm on Tuesday, lumber dealer Chen-Jui-Pin, 56, and his wife Suchen-Chen, 55, of Kara Kara, Linden, were proceeding along the Linden Highway in their motor vehicle. In the vicinity of Yarrowkabra, two men drove up alongside in motor car HB 6580 and signalled to the couple that something was wrong with a wheel on their vehicle. As the couple stopped to see what was the problem the two men, one of whom was armed with a handgun, disembarked their vehicle and held them up.

The men took away a bag containing $769,000, a cellular phone and a wrist watch from the two victims. During the robbery, the armed man discharged a round, which struck Suchen-Chen to her right thigh.

The men then escaped. “Quick response by the police resulted in the motor car HB 6580 being intercepted at a roadblock along the East Bank Demerara. One of the suspects was arrested and $154,120 recovered in the vehicle,” police reported. The injured woman was later treated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and sent away.

Investigations are continuing.