Bandits
snatch
$5M in jewellery
from goldsmith
Two
bandits fled with $5M in jewellery and $275,000 in
cash, at around 07:15 hrs yesterday, after holding a goldsmith
at gunpoint near the Parika Police Station.
The victim is
Ahmad
Salem, 34, of Parika, East Bank
Essequibo.
Salim, who operates a stall at the Parika Market
Centre, said that he had parked his mini-bus near the
market and had exited the vehicle when he observed two
men standing nearby.
UNSOLVED
Crime
He
recalled that one of the men was leaning on a bicycle
while chatting on a cellular phone. According to
the goldsmith, he had just taken the bag of jewellery
from his bus and locked the vehicle when one of the
men called out to him.
But
when Salim turned to them, the men drew handguns and
stuck them in his ribs.
“They told me to give them the bag or they would
shoot,” Salim said. After a second warning, the
goldsmith handed over the bag, and the men, with loot
in hand, fled on their bicycle through a nearby
street.
The victim ran into the Parika Police Station for
assistance, but after seeing only one policeman on
duty, Salim and another bystander went in pursuit of
the men.
They located the robbers’ bicycle, which the men had
abandoned in a canal, but found no trace of the
suspects.
Salim said that several police ranks eventually turned
up and scoured the area without success. The
businessman said that the outcome would have been
different had he been armed. He complained that his
applications for a firearm have not been approved.
Meanwhile, the police have since detained two suspects
in connection with the robbery.
Monday,
February 4, 2008 |
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