An importer and one of his employees were on Monday afternoon held at gunpoint and relieved of $2 million in cash after they collected it from two commercial banks.
The attack on Jonathan Alli, a resident of Drysdale Street, Charlestown, and his salesman, Dexter Cyrus, 35, of Old Road La Grange, West Bank Demerara, was carried out around 2.40 pm on Monday, just as they were about to enter the former’s home.
It is suspected the three bandits, two of whom were armed with guns, trailed the men from one of the banks.
Stabroek News was told that investigations have revealed that Alli, who owns and operates a grocery and confectionery store at Lot 263 Section ‘A’ Block ‘X’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara, left the business place around midday on Monday for the bank.
The men went to the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Diamond branch, where they cashed two cheques, after which they visited Demerara Bank, also at Diamond, where they cashed another cheque.
Upon completing the transactions, Alli drove to his house and parked his minibus in front of his yard. As he exited his vehicle, he noticed a silver car, HC 4682, stop and three men exited.
One of the men held Alli at gunpoint and demanded that he hand over the cash, which was in a black plastic bag. He complied and handed over the cash and his cell phone.
One of the bandits also confronted Cyrus and relieved him of his cell phone. The bandits then reentered their car and fled the scene.
No shots were fired.
Investigators have since obtained statements, while checks of the area for CCTV footage of the attack did not yield any result.
The attack is the most recent in a series of recent robberies in which customers have been trailed and robbed after visiting a bank to withdraw a large sum of cash.
Just last Wednesday, electrical contractor Bisnauth Terry Chan was shot in his head and robbed of $600,000 by two motorcycle bandits, who trailed him from the Triumph branch of Republic Bank before cornering him at his Enmore, East Coast Demerara worksite.
Additionally, two weeks ago, Cove and John fisherman Eddy Brandon was shot in his leg and robbed of $7 million in cash after visiting the Republic Bank at Triumph.
