A dredge owner was shot and robbed of $5M in cash, during a hold-up yesterday morning in the vicinity of Mandela Avenue and Hunter Street, Georgetown.
Kenneth Joaquin, 57, of Arakaka, North West District, recently returned from the interior and yesterday he had a quantity of gold converted to cash.
Joaquin told Stabroek News that after leaving the exchange spot, he and his driver made other stops before they were attacked around 9am.
The man said that upon their arrival at a traffic light on Mandela, an armed man, clad in a khaki shirt and a multi-coloured hat, came from behind their car and quickly opened the door, and demanded “the bag.” The bag in question, which contained the $5M, was lying on the floor of the vehicle between Joaquin’s legs, and the bandit reportedly retrieved it then shot the dredge owner in his left thigh before making good his escape.
Joaquin said he has no idea what mode of transport the bandit used to escape, but he suspects that it was via a waiting motorcycle.
Police later said yesterday that the “perpetrator escaped on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.”
Joaquin said that after the bandit went away, his driver took him straight to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where he was treated and admitted. The bullet apparently passed through the man’s leg and was retrieved from the vehicle.
The injured man and his family are all in agreement that he was traced from the point of the business transaction to Mandela Avenue. He is expected to be discharged from the GPH today.
Up to press time yesterday Joaquin’s driver, who according to relatives has been known to them for three years, was at the Ruimveldt Police Station.
