Vilvoorden robbery report not corroborated by neighbours

Police are questioning the credibility of a report of robbery committed on Vilvoorden, Essequibo businessman Naime Sabar and his family, who were reportedly held at gunpoint and robbed of over $11 million in cash and cellphones last Sunday.

Sunday Stabroek was reliably informed that the investigation into the matter is ongoing and investigators are questioning the details given to them.

“We do not believe it was a robbery…we have a different view,” a source told this newspaper.

Additional information revealed that residents of the area have since provided the police with statements in relation to the incident.  “…Robbery was not substantiated by residents of the area. They didn’t see or hear anything,” the source noted.

It was previously reported that a group of seven bandits, all of whom were masked and armed, attacked Sabar, 28 and his family, just after they had returned home from the mosque. The attack occurred between 8.30 pm and 9.30 pm.

Sabar, who owns and operates a cellphone store, lives with his 23-year-old wife and their two sons.

“I came from masjid and I was just opening my gate to come in and my wife and my two kids was with me. One of them (bandits) run and get my wife and put a cutlass on she neck and the other three was bare machine gun. They hold my two sons and one came straight up to me and then they start tell us how to do, what to do and when to do,” Sabar had explained.

Sabar, who was also battered during the attack, had said that the bandits threatened to kill one of his sons if he did not hand over cash.

In fear, Sabar said he was forced to show the men $7 million in cash he had in his bedroom.

They then continued to beat him while demanding that he open the truck parked in his yard. He complied and the bandits carted off about $4 million in iPhones. “I had to give them because they hold my son at ransom. They were going away with him and they hold knife to his neck and so forth,” he added.

The bandits then escaped.