A woman yesterday afternoon fought two bandits in her bid to prevent them from taking her shoulder bag but in the end she lost the battle and the men escaped with millions of dollars and important documents.
Anne Ahmad fought tooth and nail with the men in front of her Middle Street home yesterday afternoon even as her terrified daughter and mother looked on. The robbery forced Anne – part owner of Anne’s Variety Store on King Street -and another sister to abandon a scheduled trip to the US this morning. Instead the woman is now in the process of cancelling her newly acquired credit cards, their travel tickets and other documents.
“This thing really trouble we, this is a big loss but is the passports with the visa more than anything. How we go get that back,” 58-year-old Golin Somwaru told Stabroek News this morning.
The woman is convinced that the robbery was a result of an “inside job” and she believes that they were set up. She related that persons in the area indicated that the two men escaped in motorcar, HB 3848, a Toyota Carina 212, which was reportedly parked in front of the family’s home since around 4pm. She said that someone must have been feeding the men information about their movements.
The family had closed their business yesterday and headed over to a nearby cambio where they bought some US$25,000 all of which was placed in a bag along with some local currency-which was the day’s sale from the business-the two passports and other documents.
Recounting to Stabroek News what transpired the woman said that they had just arrived home and her daughter exited the mini bus they were in and went through the passageway to open the gate. In the meantime, she, her granddaughter and their driver remained in the bus.
“Is when she going these two guys approach her and she realize that they going to see,” the woman said.
At the time the woman had the bag with money and her daughter’s school and lunch bags in her possession.
She said one of the men approached her daughter and grabbed the bags but while she let go of the school and lunch bags she held on to the bag with the money.
“If you see how she fight this man, he drag she on the ground she hold on to the bag because she know it had the passports,” the woman said.
However, the woman was subsequently overpowered and the man grabbed the bag and threw it to his accomplice. He then picked up the book bag and lunch bag and ran out to the road. The book bag proved to be too heavy and he subsequently dropped it and the two jumped into the car, which had a driver at the wheel, and they escaped.
According to Somwaru during her daughter’s battle with the bandits persons were standing on the roadway but no one came to her rescue.
“Plenty people went there because we live opposite Juice Power and people there buying water and so on but somebody say the bandits had a gun so I can’t blame people because they want protect themselves,” the woman said.
She, however, was very upset about the actions of a policeman who she said witnessed the robbery.
According to the woman during the robbery many persons in the area indicated that they had called the Alberttown Police Station – which is not located far from the scene of the crime – but were told that the officers had no vehicle.
“Now tell me what we paying tax for? Me and four of me family paying tax and then when something happen we have to hear that police don’t have vehicle,” the woman asked.
She said when they arrived at the Alberttown Police Station the ranks said they were already aware of the robbery.
Somwaru said when her daughter went into the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office of the station a police officer there indicated that he had witnessed the robbery.
“He say he passing in a 45 mini bus and see me daughter fighting with the bandit but instead of he come out he decided to go to the station to make a report. Now I don’t know wah the President doing about these police but is really madness,” the angry woman said.
She said the police officer should have exited the mini bus and called for back up and assisted her daughter.
The woman lamented that for 28 years she has been living at the location and she has never been robbed before. She has also been travelling for 32 years. The woman explained that her daughters were on their way to the US to do business and were expected back in the country this weekend. She said the family were very concerned about the visas in the passports and hoped that the bandits would return them.
