Four in custody for Number 65 beer garden robbery

Edmund Cooper
Edmund Cooper

Berbice police have so far placed four persons from different villages in Canje under arrest in connection with the recent robbery on a beer garden located at Number 65 Village, Corentyne during which over 20 patrons were robbed of cash amounting to a total of $1M.

Deputy Commander of B Division, Edmund Cooper, in an interview with the media relayed that investigators presently have four persons in custody who they are interrogating. He noted that police have received some information from one of the men in custody. “Based on that questioning there are some leads leading to other persons who are still to be arrested,” he said.

Two Sundays ago, five gunmen stormed the Number 65 Village, Corentyne beer garden early in the evening and carted off a total of $1M in cash and six cellular phones. Over twenty persons were present in the beer garden when the five men who were reportedly armed with high powered weapons invaded the shop. Stabroek News was told that the bandits ordered all of the persons in the beer garden to lay flat on the ground and empty their pockets. One of the persons who was in the shop at the time of the robbery had told this newspaper that they were playing cards and the gunmen also carted off all of the cash that was present on the different tables.

The owner of the business, Krisendatt Hemnauth, 60, had told Stabroek News that he resides at Lot 160 B Number 65 Village, Corentyne but operates his business at Lot 11 A Number 65 Village. He also rents a portion of the building to Superbet.

He noted that the five men launched their attack sometime around 7.30 pm.

One of the bandits dealt Hemnauth two blows to his head with his gun, while another kicked Hemnauth’s 21-year-old son several times during the ordeal.

The men stole $30,000 from Hemnauth, over $100,000 from his son and $45,000 from a Skeldon contractor who had already placed a bet on the table. The other persons were all robbed of cash and cellphones as well.