Two bandits on a motorcycle created havoc on the East Coast Demerara between Friday afternoon and yesterday morning, storming three businesses at gunpoint.
R Persaud Service Station in Mon Repos, Gian Supermarket in Annandale and the Daily Supermarket in Enterprise were each attacked at different times by two men on a motorcycle.
Around 7 am yesterday, two men, one armed with a gun and another with a knife, rode up to one of the pump attendants at the R Persaud Service station, snatched the money she had and escaped. “They [pump attendants] would usually have the money in their hand and all I remember is just a bike coming up fast, fast and stopping next to she [the pump attendant]. One of them pull out the gun and snatch she money and they just ride away fast,” one of the staff related to Stabroek News yesterday.
Several villages away, Gian Supermarket was also robbed by two men on a CG motorcycle. One of the staff explained that it was approximately 6 pm on Friday when two men rode up on a CG motorcycle. “They went out there for a while and they didn’t have that many people in the store and all of a sudden one of them rush in and run to the counter and stick up the girl [cashier] that was there and tek the money fast,” the worker related, stating that it happened within a couple of minutes.
The man then darted out to where his accomplice was waiting on the motorcycle and they rode off to the east.
Mere hours before, they had attempted to rob Daily Supermarket in Enterprise but were forced to flee empty handed.
According to an eyewitness, two men showed up and parked their CG motorcycle opposite the Daily Supermarket around 3 pm on Friday. “All of a sudden I see one of them pull out a gun and the other had a long, long knife and they just rush into the place and push down the guard,” the eyewitness related.
He explained that after they pushed down the guard, the owners, hearing the commotion, quickly locked their cash registers and turned on the alarm. “They [the owners] wuk fast so when them man rush in they get to run away and mussy because of the alarm they decide to just run out back,” he said, adding that the two men fled the supermarket, jumped on their motorcycle and sped away.
Daily Supermarket and Gian Supermarket are owned by Chinese nationals, who told Stabroek News yesterday that they were living in fear since the incidents. Neither businessman wanted to be named out of the fear of being targeted again; both said it appeared as if bandits were robbing Chinese-owned businesses more frequently. “Everybody probably think that it easy to rob Chinese people because it looking like they just targeting we,” one of the businessmen said.
According to Acting Crime Chief Hugh Jessemy, persons were questioned for the three robberies but no one has been taken into custody. All of the businesses are equipped with security cameras and the police are currently reviewing the CCTV footage in hopes of identifying the perpetrators.
