The two gun-toting bandits who carted off in excess of $7M from the Wismar Post Office on Monday eluded residents of Silvertown before making their escape in a white car which was in waiting in the vicinity of Half Mile.
Residents of Silvertown said that it was shortly after the dismissal of schools in the area when they were alerted by screams of “thief, thief, deh gat gun and robbing deh post office.”
One resident who lives near the post office told this newspaper that at the time of the incident he was in his store when he heard a loud bang. He said that it never crossed his mind that it was bandits who had kicked down an internal door of the post office.
“When I hear de sound I thought that something had happened to my wife over at the house so I shouted out to her and asked her what had happen and she said that she was in the bathroom and everything was ok,” the man recalled.
The man said that about ten minutes later he heard screams coming from the post office and he immediately called out to others in the neighbourhood.
Several persons said that they were reluctant to come out after they learnt that the bandits were armed. Some young men who were at a wash-bay directly opposite the post office said that they had not been paying any attention to persons entering or leaving the post office.
They said that they were alerted, however, when a child who resides in the upper flat of the post office ran out onto the streets shouting that the post office had been robbed.
“Everything happened so quickly all of us was confused cause soon as we hear gun all ah we scatter, some man jump fence and some ah we mek track weh deh ain’t even gat track,” a young man related.
According to one of the men, one of the bandits had on a mask. They said that they did not notice any gun in his possession as he made his escape through the streets of Silvertown.
On reflection they said they could have easily apprehended the bandit who was small built and had stumbled to the ground several times as he ran through the streets.
An elderly woman said that she was standing at the entrance of her yard when one of the bandits ran past her and through her neighbour’s yard. She recounted that as he was about to pass her he slipped and his mask fell off but she retreated into her house after she learnt what the man had done. He was clad in a white T-shirt and was carrying a backpack. She said that the man paused a short while to properly zip up the backpack before continuing his escape.
Several others said that the second bandit was first seen by a group of primary school children who were coming down ‘Tar Hill’, which is a few yards from the post office.
They said that the children said that the man who had a gun in his hand was not wearing a mask but he was carrying a backpack. He made his escape through the Green Valley area before joining his colleagues in the white car which was waiting for them. No one, however, had secured the number of the car.
Several persons in the area said that based on the size of the backpack the bandits carried they would assume that each was not carrying any more than $2M.
They also recounted that a teacher ran out of the store and sought refuge at a resident nearby and was screaming uncontrollably for her young son who was left behind in the post office.
They said that the woman was so hysterical that she was unable to explain what had happened at the time.
This newspaper was told that a male employee of the post office had earlier in the day received a phone call indicating that there was a plot to rob the facility. It is understood that the employee communicated the information to the postmistress who reportedly made a report to the Wismar Police Station.
The facility remained closed yesterday and all postal and other transactions were shifted to the Mackenzie Post Office. This resulted in a large build-up of customers at the Mackenzie facility and police ranks were concealed in the building. Persons were allowed entrance in groups of five.
Up to press time Stabroek News was reliably informed that most of the employees who were in the Wismar Post Office at the time of the robbery were still in police custody assisting with investigations.
While several persons have said that they knew the bandits, police so far have made no arrests but were said to be pursuing the suspects.
