Guyanese visiting from overseas have been the target of armed bandits three times this year and according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud the situation is not alarming.
“Everyone needs to be security conscious,” Persaud said, when asked what advice he would give to persons travelling here.
However, during a telephone interview Persaud said that there have been three such cases in the last two months—at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, Meadow Brook Gardens and Lusignan, East Coast Demerara—in comparison with “one or two last year.”
He stated that the cases have been isolated so far and the situation is not one to be alarmed about. “It is pretty safe,” he declared, while adding that persons get robbed all over the world.
According to Persaud, persons just have to be on their guard no matter which part of the world they are. He said it is “reckless talking” by relatives that is responsible for the attacks on overseas-based Guyanese who have been ambushed shortly after arrival in the country.
Meanwhile, Persaud revealed that a suspect in the latest case was nabbed at a wedding over the weekend. He was positively identified as one of two bandits who relieved Kadir and Loreta Mapura of US$6,500 and a quantity of gold jewellery at gunpoint last Friday. The Crime Chief said that the man would be appearing in court later this week.
The Mapuras were attacked less than 15 minutes after they arrived at their relatives’ Lusignan home from the airport. The couple, who returned home after 21 years to attend a wedding, suspected that the bandits might have picked up information about their arrival from hanging around the area.
Kadir had recounted they were sitting in the bottom flat of the house “gaffing” with the door open when two masked men walked in. One of the bandits kept his gun trained on them while the other stripped his wife of the gold jewellery she was wearing and removed US currency that she had in her possession.
The accomplice then searched his pockets and removed cash from his wallet. During the robbery, the bandits kept asking “Where is the bag?” The men, who were wearing long-sleeved shirts, also took a cellular phone and local currency before fleeing.
Meanwhile, shortly after arriving in Guyana on April 7, musician Rudy Bishop was held at gunpoint at Meadow Brook Gardens. Bishop, 65, was forced to use a hire car from the airport after the vehicle he had arranged could not make it. When he arrived at his destination around 2.30 am, two men armed with guns were across from the house waiting for him. They took away his briefcase, which contained $30,000, jewellery and documents before fleeing in a motor car.
Bishop believed that he was “trailed” from the airport to his final destination in Georgetown.
On March 9, three cousins were attacked by three gunmen and robbed of more than $10 million in cash and jewellery less than an hour after they arrived from Trinidad.
Tazeena Ally, Zoreina Bibi Kadir and Zamal Mohammed arrived at the airport just after midnight and a pre-arranged taxi took them to a house in Diamond. As the trio where unloading the luggage, they were attacked by men who were all wearing jackets with hoods over their faces.
