A 38-year-old shopkeeper is now dead following a robbery carried out on him and his girlfriend at Toroparu Backdam, Cuyuni River, by four men armed with a handgun and cutlasses.
The incident which occurred on Tuesday night saw the men escaping with millions of dollars’ worth of gold and mining equipment.
The name of the deceased known as ‘Saw-man’ is yet to be ascertained.
The articles reported missing are nine ounces of raw gold valued $2,700,000, one gold chain valued $200,000, one Minelab GPZ 7000 gold detector valued $250,000 and one Minelab Gold Monster 1000 gold detector valued $200,000.
According to a police report, the victim was at his shop when he was approached by the men at about 7:45 pm. The suspects proceeded to tie him up and demanded cash and gold. It was said that the miner disclosed that it was his girlfriend, a 36-year-old Venezuelan national who was at a nearby shop who had the gold.
Two of the men then left and returned with the woman before relieving her of the items.
The suspects then led the woman away from the shop through a trail. Along the way they noticed someone approaching them with a light. One of the suspects fired a shot in the direction of the light before they released the woman and made their escape.
Cries for help alerted several workers who were nearby to rush to the aid of the shopkeeper. After taking the man back to the camp it was observed that he had been shot to the inner part of his upper right thigh. He succumbed shortly after.
Efforts are being made to transport the miner’s body to Georgetown where he could be identified and for a post mortem to be carried out.
