TWO armed bandits
yesterday robbed a 12-year-old boy of Enterprise, East Coast Demerara of
his gold chain after putting a gun to his head.
The men
who were on bicycles, rode up alongside the boy, stole the chain and fled
the village in the direction of the backlands, residents
said.
The boy,
Mark Sukhu of Charlotte Street, Enterprise, was on an errand for his
mother at about 11:00 hrs, just about seven lots away from where he lives
when the gunmen approached him and demanded that he take off his gold
chain valued at $32,000.
The
frightened boy said that after seeing the men pull the guns from under
their shirts, he dropped the bicycle he was riding and hastened to take
off the chain, but before he could have done so, the men snatched it away
from him.
Mark's
mother, Gaitri Sukhu said she had sent her son with $200 to buy fish from
a vendor who was passing in the area.
She
recalled that about five minutes after the boy left the home she heard
someone screaming and when she looked up the road it was Mark running back
home.
"I
thought some mini-bus must be jam he down and that's why he run and
holler, but when he reach, he tell me two men with gun tek way he gold
chain", the mother said.
A resident said
that upon seeing what had happened, he immediately telephoned the
Vigilance Police Station. Although he made subsequent calls for about half
an hour after the incident, there was no response by the Police, he
claimed.
Another
resident of Enterprise said the two men are usually seen in the village
and appear to be on surveillance to committ robberies.
He said
the men were recently in the Enterprise Market area acting very
suspiciously and had been exposing the guns they were
carrying.
On that
occasion, he said he called out about 50 of his fellow villagers to keep
vigil around the market area just to avert any possible robbery attacks
the men might have intended to carry out.
The two,
who had become aware of the presence of the villagers, went away, he
said.
Meanwhile, a family in the neighbouring village, Non Pariel, who
preferred not to be named, said they were robbed of cash and jewellery on
Monday evening.
Residents in that area said they suspected that the same two
bandits had carried out the attack.
One of
the robbery victims at Non Pariel said that around 19:00 hrs on Monday,
she was in the house when she heard the dog barking, but did not see
anyone outside when she peeped out.
She said
she then asked her son to turn on the lights but as he was about to do
that, she heard glass being broken.
The
woman said that shortly after, she realised it was the louvre glass window
that had been smashed and two gunmen forced their way into the house,
demanding cash and jewellery.
She said
the robbers ordered her husband to lie face down on the floor of the
bedroom but he went immediately to a safe in the room and took out about
$60,000 in cash and about $80,000 in gold jewellery which he handed over
to them.
The
bandits then left, she said.
No one
was reported injured in the attack and the matter was reported to the
Police.
