– suspect held
Two armed bandits, reportedly posing as customers, held an employee of Double ‘R’ Bond at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice at gunpoint around 4.30 pm yesterday and escaped with $2.5 million.

Police sources said last evening that a suspect was taken into custody shortly after the robbery and is assisting with investigation.

The wholesale flour bond belongs to Ramdehol Ramoutar who also runs a hardware store at another location in the village.

Reports are that the employee, Hemraj ‘Harry’ Singh, the lone worker at the bond was approached by two men who arrived in a Canter truck under the pretext of wanting to purchase a few bags of flour.

Singh said that when it was time to pay the men whipped out two guns and “lashed me on my forehead” with the weapons and threw him down. He said that as he was on the ground the bandits bound his hands behind his back and gagged him with duct tape before dumping about three bags of flour on top of him. The gunmen then searched the bond and removed the cash and escaped. Residents who arrived at the scene shortly after an alarm was raised told this newspaper that another customer entered the store within 15 minutes of the robbery and rescued Singh.

They said Singh related that he managed to free the tape from his mouth and called out to the customer for assistance.

Meanwhile, Ramoutar told this newspaper that he does not usually have cash at the bond as Singh was only supposed to accept payments by cheque.

Customers making cash payments would normally be directed to do so at another location and then take their receipts back to the bond to uplift their goods. He admitted though, that at times the right procedures were not followed and money would be collected at the bond.