Armed bandits yesterday morning held two elderly guards at gunpoint before proceeding to rob the main office of Ready Mix Concrete Limited, located at 69-72 Eccles Industrial Site, East Bank Demerara.
Police in a statement said that between 2. 30 am and 3 am, three men armed with guns “pounced upon the two watchmen, both in their late seventies and held them at gunpoint, proceeded to a section of the two story-building and removed the cash from a safe which they used a torch to cut open and gain access.”
The police added that Queensway Security Service, a private security firm responded to an alarm from the building and confronted the bandits during which there was an exchange of gunfire between the two sides but the suspects managed to flee the scene.
The men managed to escape through a hole they gouged in the fence at the back of the building and fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
It is believed that the men scaled a fence and entered the yard.
An employee who asked not to be named yesterday said that the men first went to the guard hut where the elderly men were, broke a window and pointed a gun in their direction, threatening to shoot.
The man explained that one of the gunmen stayed behind and guarded the watchmen while the others targeted the office. The gunmen used a sledgehammer to break down a section of the wall in order to gain access to the building. As they entered, the men ransacked the office and used a torch to break into the safe.
During this, the employee said the bandits were alerted by their accomplice of a vehicle approaching. The man added that upon the arrival of the vehicle, the gunmen opened fire at the armed guards who fired back at the men. The exchange went on for several minutes before the bandits escaped.
When Stabroek News visited the location yesterday bullet holes were visible about the building and guard hut. The windows of the guard hut were all broken as a result of the gunfire. The holes opened up in the wall and the fence were repaired.
Stabroek News was informed that police yesterday morning visited the scene and began investigations. No one has since been arrested.
