A Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo businessman and his family were beaten by two bandits, who carted off around $7 million in cash and jewellery.
Arnold Ramroop, 47, told Stabroek News that he was cleaning the white-tiled floor of his grocery and variety store when he was attacked at around 11 am.
“I was in the shop and had my back turn to the road busy mopping away because somebody dirty up the tile and I didn’t want the mess spread. I felt a cold thing to my head and hear a man seh lie pon de ground and don’t mek a sound or yuh dead,” he recounted.
The men, who then closed the shop’s front door and western window, asked Ramroop how many persons were at home and he said he replied two. One of the men then called out to his wife, Rajpattie, and told her to open their adjoining residence or her husband would be killed.
The woman complied and the men then entered the Ramroops residence. There, one of the men gun-butted Ramroop’s son, Roopesh, leaving a big gash on his face.
Threatening death if their orders were not followed, the robbers took Mrs Ramroop upstairs, where they grabbed about $5 million in jewellery and other items and $2 million in cash. One of the men was then heard contemplating taking the flat screen television, but his accomplice scolded him and said that it was time to leave.
Before leaving, Ramroop said, the robbers warned them that they would return to kill them if they spoke with the media or complained to the police.
Police said that the men, one of whom had a gun, escaped in a waiting car.
In addition to the wound sustained above his left eye, Roopesh was also beaten. His mother also received blows. She was pushed down at the front of the store and as a result a wooden pallet was broken and she received bruises to her body.
Part of Ramroop’s head was also swollen from a gun-butt he received while he lay on the ground.
Neighbours described the men as having been “dressed ordinarily,” while adding that they “could fit in anywhere without anyone suspecting them to be thieves.” The men were suspected to be those responsible for the robbery of a goldsmith on the West Coast Demerara several weeks ago.
