A 54-year-old businessman of Canefield, East Canje was shot in his right foot after three armed bandits attacked and robbed him of almost $400,000 in cash, phone cards, gold jewellery and a cell phone around 11:45 pm on Tuesday.
Ally Mohamed known as ‘Roti Shop’ told Stabroek News yesterday that the bandits grabbed the cash from his grocery shop and beer garden by jumping up on the counter. They also walked on a few loaves of bread that were on the counter.
The bandits also removed cash from Mohamed’s pocket that he was supposed to have made purchases with in New Amsterdam earlier, his cellular phone and GT&T phone cards worth $80,000. They then ripped off a 20-pennyweight gold chain valued $90,000 that he was wearing.
The bandits reportedly fired four bullets; one before entering the yard, one that hit Ally and two more before fleeing on foot. They then jumped onto bicycles they had apparently left at a nearby culvert and continued their escape.
His wife, Leila Algoo was just about to close the gate when the three bandits who were armed with guns barged into his yard. Ally was sitting in a chair in front of the shop watching television and did not notice the bandits but was alerted by what sounded like a gunshot.
By the time he could turn around, one of the bandits held a gun to his head and demanded that he “get on the ground.” The man said he promptly refused and the bandit apparently got angry and removed the gun from his head and fired it at his right thigh.
Ally managed to move his thigh in time and the bullet missed but caught the bottom part of his foot instead. The bullet “burst up” his sneaker, exited his foot and lodged in the concrete causing it to “flake up.” He was treated at the New Amsterdam Hospital and sent away.
The man said he was shocked that the bandit fired the shot so fast and asked him “why you shoot me?”
Meanwhile his wife who heard the gunshot as she was closing the gate looked up and saw the men and ran back in the shop unnoticed and hid in a corner. His 16-year-old daughter, Nafeeza was upstairs and did not realize that the sounds were coming from bandits until after they left.
Customers had left the shop just before the robbery and a worker, Maneshwar Rampersaud who was packing up chairs was ordered to lie on the ground during the ordeal which lasted less than five minutes. (Shabna Ullah)
