Three bandits, armed with guns, yesterday robbed a Canefield Village, East Canje, Berbice businesswoman of over $200,000 in cash and phone cards in an attack during which they also assaulted her.
Yasodra Singh, 54, of Lot 21 Canefield, East Canje, Berbice, was at home with her three grandchildren, who are ages 10 years, nine years and nine months, when the men invaded the premises.
The attack occurred around 9 am.
Singh’s daughter, Amrita Singh, 30, explained, that her mother operates a general store at the property, while she and her father, Andrew Singh, 55, sell at the Port Mourant Market.
She said her mother informed her that the first perpetrator entered the store and requested to purchase feed but shortly after changed his mind and requested a bottle of water. When the woman went to retrieve the bottle of water, the perpetrator made a phone call and then rushed behind her, “push her down and start kick her up and ask her for money,” the daughter said.
Two other robbers, who were masked and armed with guns, then rushed into the store from a car. According to the woman, the first perpetrator masked himself during the attack.
Singh noted that the men assaulted her mother while demanding that she take them to the upper flat of the house. “She had an apron around her waist and they manage to take that from her and one of the other two (perpetrators) place the gun to my son head and ask him for the money and he showed them where she would usually keep the money in a bucket,” the daughter said.
The men stole around $195,000 in cash as well as a quantity of phone cards, after which they hurriedly escaped in their waiting car.
This newspaper was told that two strange persons visited the shop last week and acted in a suspicious manner. “They bought cigarettes then go out and come back and bought a lighter,” the businesswoman’s daughter noted. It is suspected that the men were surveilling the building.
Meanwhile, ‘B’ Division Commander Paul Langevine yesterday afternoon said police had launched an investigation but no one had been arrested as yet.
However, a police source explained that investigators were on the hunt for a suspect from Cumberland Village, East Canje Berbice and also seeking to locate the vehicle used for the getaway, which is suspected to be a hire car.
Earlier this month, gunmen invaded a bar, located one street away from Singh’s business, and robbed the owners along with several customers of cash, jewellery, cell phones and a car. A man and woman from Cumberland Village, East Canje, Berbice, which is one village away from Canefield Village, were recently charged for that robbery and remanded to prison.
