Cops in hunt for trio after Rockstone robbery

The Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday said that three men are now wanted after they robbed a Rockstone businesswoman on Friday night.

In a statement, the GPF said that around 10 pm, the men held the 57-year-old businesswoman and her grandson at gunpoint at her grocery store, located at Rockstone/Mabura Access Road.

The suspects, who were riding two XR motorcycles without number plates, had earlier visited the business.

According to the police, one of them, who was dressed in a grey hoodie and was known to the woman, went up to her and purchased a pack of cigarette, two bottles of water and a can of Canada Dry ginger ale. He then went to his two accomplices, who were dressed in the dark hoodies and dark-coloured jerseys with their faces exposed.  They then rolled a joint (ganja) and began smoking, the police said.

The suspects later rode off, heading in the direction of Mabura.

However, the police said, about 20 minutes later, the businesswoman heard her dogs barking continuously in the back yard, which is surrounded by thick vegetation. Her grandson armed himself with a cutlass and ventured outside into the dark and made checks. During his search, he was approached by one of the suspects, whom he knows from Kuru Kuru.

The police said that the suspect choked the woman’s grandson and pointed a handgun to his head, while the other two other suspects, whose faces were now tied with black jerseys, came out of the dark. They were both armed with handguns. They took him to the shop and told him not to make any noise as they barged in and confronted the owner, whom they told to lay down. The woman complied, the police said. The robbers then took the woman’s jewellery from her and went to her shop where her money was. The police said that the men took the money along with cellular phones that were left near the money.  These included a Samsung Note 5 cellular phone, valued $90,000, a BLU Smartphone valued $22,000, a Logic Smart phone valued $26,000, an iQoo phone valued $6,000, and a BLU cellular phone valued $20,000. They also stole three $500 GTT phone cards, a gold chain valued $150,000, a gold ring valued $60,000, and six gold studs, valued $30,000.

The men then ran out of the shop and made good their escape, while the businesswoman raised an alarm. A driver made efforts to apprehend the men but it proved futile as the men rode away with their motorcycles, the police said. Ranks from Mabura Police Outpost were summoned and they were up to yesterday making checks for the suspects.