Three armed, masked men launched an attack on an East Bank Demerara family early yesterday morning, leaving one person wounded and the others traumatised, while robbing them of millions. However, quick action by the police resulted in the arrest of one suspect.
Businessman Kalicharran Surujpaul, 43, of 205 School Street, Prospect, East Bank Demerara had returned from a wedding sometime around 23:00 hrs on Sunday and decided to sleep downstairs in his two-storey home. He awakened sometime around 03:00 hrs yesterday only to realise that he wasn’t alone in his bottom flat.
Three masked individuals had gained access through a window by removing the glass and opening the grill from inside.
According to the businessman, in an ordeal that lasted for about an hour, the bandits brutalized him, terrified his family and escaped with some $800,000, over $1 million in jewellery, 2 cellphones, 3 laptops, 3 cameras and flash drives.
Ishwardai Surujpaul, the businessman’s wife, told Stabroek News yesterday that, she was awakened by a gasping sound coming from downstairs. “I hear a sound like when someone panting fo breath; like when someone was being choked,” she said.
She further stated that she ventured downstairs to investigate, only to see three persons standing over her husband, who was on the ground. One was choking him while the other two were tying him up. One of the bandits then pointed a gun to her face and told her to lie down and she did as she was told.
The bandits then requested money and jewellery and struck the businessman to his head several times with a hammer as they ransacked the bedroom downstairs.
She said the bandits then went upstairs and “opened my daughters’ bedroom and peeped in and see that the children were asleep,” before returning downstairs. However, the children were awake but concealed this from the bandits. “After they hear me screaming,” the distraught woman said, “one of my daughters call the police from inside the bedroom.”
According to the businessman, as the bandits were exiting the premises they were confronted by the police and there was a shootout, resulting in one of the perpetrators being caught.
Contacted yesterday, ‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hicken said the police had one of the individuals in custody and had also managed to recover 2 laptops, a 9 mm Glock hand gun and four rounds. Investigations are currently ongoing.
When Stabroek News left the family yesterday, Surujpaul was going to get a medical examination to determine the extent of his injuries.
