The owners of a Triumph, East Coast Demerara moulding establishment are counting their losses after gunmen attacked the company on Monday evening, battering a manager and robbing them of cash and jewellery.
According to a police release, at around 8:10 pm on Monday four men, three of whom were armed with handguns, raided the Shivrattan Moulding Establishment at Triumph, and held the security guard and three employees at gunpoint.
The men took away a total of $300,000 in jewellery and two mobile phones and escaped in a waiting motor car. According to Manager, Haymant Singh, the business entity would normally close its doors around 7 pm, but he noted that on Monday evening the staff had additional work to do and decided to stay until 9 pm.
He said that the security guard was at the front of the premises and four other staff members were in the business’ workshop at the back of the building. He was inside his office which is also located at the back of the building.
Singh added that he does not normally close the door that leads to his office and he recounted that as he was sitting at his desk completing work on his laptop computer, he saw the door swing open and three men entered his office, all covering their faces with their hands.
The visibly-shaken man said one of the men was armed and he said that they asked him where the money was. “I thought was them guys playing around and then I realize that none of them ain’t look like them guys…then they hoist me and lash me down on the ground and start stamping me”, a traumatized Singh related.
He related that the men frisked him and while searching his pockets they found $32,000 along with a Coral mobile phone as well as a bunch of keys.
He said that the men then asked for the day’s takings, but he responded that he does not handle the entity’s finances. This led the men to gun-butt him to the head repeatedly, after which they took him outside and to his boss’s front door.
He said that the men asked for the keys but he responded that he didn’t have them and the men then “stamp the door and it didn’t budge so they took the gun and lash the glass twice but they didn’t get through”.
Singh said that the men took him downstairs and into a passageway where they made him lie face-down on the ground and they continued to assault him about his face and body.
While asking him for money and about the second entrance leading to the upper flat of the building, the two men took Singh to the workshop where his hands and mouth were duct-taped. The men then took his gold earring and it was while there that he realized that the four staff members had also been assaulted and duct-taped.
Singh related that the men took a gold band from one of his colleagues and two mobile phones as well, after which he was taken back into his office, which he realized had been ransacked. He said that the top half of the door leading to the second entrance of the top flat of the house had also been broken off.
Two men then took him upstairs through the broken door and there they proceeded to ransack all the rooms, taking with them approximately $300,000 in cash. He said they also hit his head against a door, after which they covered his head with a bed sheet and some curtains. He continued that in addition to all the loot they had gathered, the men also took away his laptop, a camera and a flashlight.
According to Singh, a colleague who was also taken upstairs by another of the intruders later made him aware of the men’s departure from the premises. Singh’s boss was not around, as he had already left work for the night.
The man stated that his colleagues who were in the bottom flat of the building ran to the nearby Beterverwagting Police Station to report the incident, while he and another employee flagged down a passing police patrol car. The police attempted to follow the Silver grey AT 212 getaway car but were unsure in which direction the men had gone. Also, Singh related that one of his colleagues went missing after the men left, but upon the police’s arrival he was discovered hiding at the back of the building out of fear. Singh said the man is still traumatized by the whole ordeal. Singh and another employee are both in agreement that there were about five bandits, four of them armed.
