West Demerara businessman Safraz Khan was attacked and robbed by gunmen in his yard on Thursday night.
Khan was terrorised by three attackers for about 10 minutes but sustained no serious injuries. The man was up to early last evening assisting police with investigations.
When Stabroek News visited his home yesterday relatives expressed concern for their safety and said they believed Khan’s attackers had “traced” him.
A relative, who declined to have her name published, said that Khan, 29, is a mobile businessman who drives from location to location wholesaling goods to retailers.
Some time after 11 pm on Thursday, the woman recalled, she was awakened by a noise. When she looked out a side window, she recalled, she saw Khan.
“They taped his hand behind his back and tape up his eyes and so,” the relative said.
When she realised what was happening the woman said she started to scream. Other relatives who were in the house woke up and efforts were made to call the police and other persons for help.
The woman said when she looked out the window a second time she saw one of the attackers make a final search of Khan’s vehicle and then ran away. Khan’s van is stocked with the goods that he sells, relatives explained.
They further reported that the man returns home around the same time on every working day and it would have been easy for the perpetrators to track him. When Khan arrives at his house, relatives said, he has to get out of the vehicle to open the gate.
Khan was going through this usual routine when he was attacked that night. The man, according to relatives, had just gotten out of his vehicle and was opening the gate when the perpetrators held him up.
“Two of them like they was hiding behind the van and the other one just come up behind he with a long gun,” a relative said. “He is still traumatised because like is up to now he can’t believe is so easy he get attacked.”
At the time of this newspaper’s visit Khan was unavailable for comment.
In a press release issued yesterday afternoon, police said that two of the attackers were armed with guns and the third with a knife.
Police reported that investigations have revealed that the victim was in the process of parking his motor vehicle at his residence when he was confronted and held at gunpoint. Khan, according to police, was robbed of $40,000 and a cellular phone. The perpetrators escaped.
