Six men armed with guns and cutlasses pounced on a Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder family yesterday morning, robbing them of over $1.5 million in cash and a quantity of jewellery and cellphones. One of the bandits also stole a motorcycle, which he used to escape.
The family suspects that they were trailed from a commercial bank in Rose Hall, Corentyne. The bandits, during the robbery, demanded the black bag they had in their possession at the bank.
In hindsight, the family said they had noticed a man driving a red car suspiciously observing them during their visit to the bank on Monday. Stabroek News was told that a red car, which is suspected to be the getaway car, was parked in front of the house during the robbery.
Additionally, the motorcycle (which one of the bandits who was recognised during the robbery used to get away), has since been found at Savannah Bridge, Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder.
Recalling the incident, Silvie Hussain, 60, explained, that she, her 70-year-old husband and teenage niece and nephew, were fast asleep when the men invaded their home around 2 am yesterday. “I hear like…something stick up in the fan and when I call on (niece name) and there and then the bandit come and say, ‘We come for the money, we come for the money’ and he shoot,” she related.
The bandits reportedly broke into the house through a side window located next to a staircase outside.
Hussain said she handed over $200,000 in Guyana currency and US$630, along with two diamond rings to the bandits, who were not satisfied and continued to demand the “black bag”. “Them say lay down and them tie we up— me, my husband and my nephew— and them get me niece searching the whole house. Them say them na want that money, them want the black bag and me tell them me na get nothing more,” she related.
The woman stated that after ransacking the entire house, the bandits then began to assault her. She said it was during that physical attack that one bandit’s kerchief fell from his face and she was able to recognise him. “Me raise me head and he kick me here (head). When me watch and he call back for the black bag and me say abie na get more, he say, ‘Weh the five plot rice money?’ and me say all deh at the bank and he say, ‘Oh, you na get more? Weh you get money fa buy new motorbike? And them start kick me and them say if abie na cooperate, four funeral go deh here,” she further recalled.
The woman said the men then further threatened to assault her niece and it was then that she decided to hand over the black bag, which had some $1.2 million in cash. The men also carted off her niece’s gold chain and a pair of gold bangles worth several hundred thousand dollars.
According to the woman, the ordeal lasted for about an hour. She said she also begged the men to take everything and leave the phone belonging to her niece, who attends the university, since she had all her assignments and other school work stored in the phone. “One say gee am and the other one that beat me say, no na gee them”, she said.
Meanwhile, Commander of B Division, Paul Langevine, yesterday afternoon said that no one had been arrested and investigations are continuing.
