Three armed bandits robbed the owner of Bob & Son Grocery Store at Strand, New Amsterdam around 6:50 pm on Thursday of an undisclosed amount of money before escaping in a waiting taxi. A suspect was taken into custody shortly after.
Nazim `Bob’ Khan who told Stabroek News that the men also took away two cell phones attempted to give chase in his car but had to abandon the idea after he was caught in a traffic jam and lost track of the bandits.
He said he was about to close up and was standing in front of the store waiting on a truck to deliver rice when the bandits pounced on him. A customer was also in front of the store awaiting a taxi.
Khan of Nigg Settlement, Corentyne said he saw the three men “walking in a line coming towards me and I told them that I closed already. But they tell me that they did not come to buy.”
Thinking that the men were joking he repeated that he was closed but the bandit who was in front pointed a gun to his head and said, “Get in the shop!”
Khan said after he saw the gun he complied and the men followed him, demanding money. “I told them that I don’t have any money because I already used it to pay bills.”
But the bandits told him “we din come to kill anybody” and insisted that he hand over the money.
Khan then told the men that the money was in a drawer and one of them jumped over the counter and emptied the money in a bag. Meantime an accomplice went into the freezer and helped himself to a few bottles of Lucozade drink.
In the incident which lasted about five minutes, the bandits then took away two cell phones belonging to Khan and an employee. They then fled the scene but not before ordering Khan and his staff into a storeroom located in the store.
But Khan managed to get out just in time to see the bandits fleeing in a white car that was waiting in front of a nearby rum shop.
He asked an employee to throw the keys to his car and he attempted to follow the bandits who had “shot through Lad Lane Street.” Khan, in hot pursuit almost caught up with the culprits along Main Street but after apparently realizing that they were being trailed they diverted while Khan remained stuck in the traffic.
On his way back to his store, the businessman stopped at the rum shop and learnt that the bandits had been sitting there for a while before committing the act.
At the same time, he said, two police officers came up and were told of the robbery. They also arrested a “known character” at the rum shop after he told them that he saw the men there.
Reports are that the suspect escaped from the police but he was re-arrested shortly after and is assisting with investigations.
