Three bandits who reportedly committed two robberies on the Corentyne were taken into custody when police unearthed a .32 snub-nose revolver in a blue AT 192 Carina motorcar, PKK 75, which was intercepted during a roadblock at Albion.
Reports are that the bandits first robbed an off-licence liquor restaurant at Number 48 Village belonging to Kampta Rambarose, 78 and escaped with $10,000. This was around 6.30 pm.
Rambarose, his wife and a grandson were in an adjoining kitchen at the back of the business place when the bandits held them at gunpoint and removed the money from a drawer in the shop.
They then made good their escape in the waiting car that was hired from Raj Taxi Service at Springlands.
The bandits then attacked and robbed Azad Taki of A. Taki Filling Station & Variety Store at Hogstye of $90,000 and a quantity of GT&T and Digicel phone cards.
Taki told this newspaper that around 7.45 pm he was in the snackette, about to close the door when one of the bandits pounced on him.
He said the man was neatly dressed and at first he thought he was a genuine customer and was about to go and attend to him. He was shocked when the bandit whipped out a gun from his right-side pants pocket and stuck him up.
“He pointed the gun to me and ordered me to hand over all the money; I give him everything I had and even had to show him that the drawer was empty…”
Taki said he did not realise that while this was happening, another unarmed bandit was attacking his pump attendant, 53-year-old, Chandishwar Permaul, who put up a struggle.
The bandit took the pump attendant into the snackette and had his accomplice deal him a blow to his head with the gun.
Taki said he watched the men enter the waiting car and speed off into the direction of New Amsterdam and then called the police.
He subsequently identified two of the men during an identification parade yesterday. The third bandit who was driving the car is said to be the son of a former police officer. Taki said there was a blackout in the area at the time of the robbery but his generator was on.
One of the bandits is said to be from D’Urban and Breda streets, Werk-en-Rust while the other two are said to be from Number 71 and Number 51 Villages.
