Two men armed with a gun on Monday grabbed $200,000 in cash and other articles at A&R Supermarket at Triumph, on the East Coast of Demerara.
A day after the brazen holdup, the business was open but the cashier and salesgirls who were victims of the robbery were more cautious as they went about their jobs.
Cashier Sally Jettoo and two salesgirls were robbed of the cash, a cellular phone, a quantity of personal jewellery and several phone cards at around 6.30 pm. The men later escaped on bicycles.
Recalling the incident yesterday afternoon, Jettoo said that there were two adult customers and several children in the shop when a short man walked in. “He had a $1,000 in he hand and he just throw the money on the counter and say he want loose biscuits,” she said, while adding that she was alarmed by his actions. “My mind was telling me something was going to happen.”
Jettoo, who was standing behind the counter at the cash register, said she told one of the salesgirls to show the man where he could find the biscuits. Around this time, the other robber, a tall man wearing dark clothing and carrying a black haversack, entered the shop.
As he went for a Malta, the other salesgirl followed him.
The man then demanded four gold rings that she was wearing. Jettoo said that the other salesgirl was held at gunpoint by the short robber and taken to her and Jettoo was made to ‘cash’ for a biscuit.
The other robber came to the cashier and placed his haversack on the counter. Jettoo said she was then told to ‘cash’ for the Malta and as she opened the cash register to make change, “the tall dark one hold de gun to my head and asked me for my money.”
With the gun still pointed at her, Jettoo said that the short robber came around the counter and picked up a box that contained the phone cards and some $100,000. Jettoo said she was then asked to place the money that was in the cash register in the haversack.
As she was doing this, she was pushed aside by the short robber who then emptied the register.
The man then demanded money from her and Jettoo said she gave the man $8,000, which she had on her person, and when she told him that she did not have any more money when he demanded it, the robber backhanded her.
The incident has traumatised her fellow staff members, the woman noted, as she recalled how hysterical they were when the men left the supermarket. “I had to be firm with them,” she said.
Jettoo said they closed the shop when the robbers left and she immediately called her boss and then the police. This is the first time that the supermarket has been robbed since it was opened last November, the woman said.
