Gunmen on Thursday stole roughly $30M in raw gold when they ambushed a gold miner near his home at Craig, East Bank Demerara and two workers that had been accompanying him are now in police custody for questioning.
The police, in a statement, said the robbery occurred around 3.15pm on Thursday when Akeem Chase, 22, was driving along Second Street, Craig. Four men in another vehicle drove across the road and blocked his path.
Three of the men, who were armed with guns, exited and held up Chase and took away a large quantity of raw gold and escaped, the statement added.
Police also confirmed the arrest of two men and this newspaper was told that they were workers who had been travelling with Chase.
Brian Chase, a gold miner for over 30 years and the father of Akeem Chase, told Stabroek News that he was informed of the robbery when an alarm was raised by residents of the community.
An employee, who was in the car at the time, rushed to his home and informed him of what had transpired.
The senior Chase believes that the robbery was committed by persons who received inside information. “I am very disappointed because everything I work for and have came by honest means,” he said.
He noted that his son was on his way home with a quantity of production when the robbery occurred. The younger Chase had travelled from a mining camp located at Kaburi.
He explained that the attack occurred some 300 feet away from their Craig home. Akeem, he said, was the driving his vehicle in the company of two employees when they were blocked by a car loaded with five men.
The men, according to Chase, parked their car in front of Akeem’s vehicle, causing him to stop, after which they pulled him out of the driver’s seat and dealt him several blows about his body.
“One of them had an AK-47 and two others had handguns and they pulled him out of his car and asked him where was the gold,” Brian Chase said.
At this point, he added, his son pointed in the car to show the men were the raw gold was stored and they grabbed it and escaped. The men also took Akeem car’s key in an apparent attempt to prevent a pursuit.
The attack is believed to have been recorded by two surveillance cameras, which were located close by.
