– armed robberies took place at Foulis, Strathspey and Better Hope

BUSINESSWOMAN Zamina Mangru was robbed at gunpoint in her shop last Saturday evening.[box type=”shadow” align=”alignright” width=”400px” ] ‘ROBBED’: The shop operated by businesswoman Zamina Mangru at Foulis where bandits ordered customers to put everything from their pockets on the pools table[/box]
The robbers were two of four men who descended on the community of Foulis, East Coast of Demerara, she told the Guyana Chronicle yesterday.
The woman said she had been at the counter when the duo arrived and one approached and put a gun to her head while the other stood guard at the gate.
The one close to her demanded that she hand over the drawer with the money and, when she complied, he put same on a pools table and ordered the customers who were there to empty their pockets and place the contents the same place from where he collected all.
The men did not hurt anyone inside the shop but the owner said the other two accomplices were up the road attempting to rob a bread vendor.
This publication was informed that the bandits, all unmasked, ventured into the community at approximately 20:06 hrs and their first stop was the businesswoman’s place.
A relative of the bread vendor said he was about to enter his yard when he noticed a strange car in the vicinity and decided to take a second look at it.
As he continued to walk into his premises, one of the two bandits who were approaching from a different direction ran behind the man with a gun.
However, that gunman was unable to commit any robbery because a community policing group was passing at the time and discharged a round scaring him off.
By that time, the car which had picked up the other two who robbed the businesswoman sped through the street and collected the others.
She was able to point out the car to another community policing group who were on patrol but failed to chase after the perpetrators.
It was that same patrol who, moments after the robbery, was alerted to it as the men exited the street but they, instead, reportedly shouted to the victim that she should go and make a report to the Police station.
Zamina said she had been robbed of approximately $80,000 in the shop and, after she reported it, police arrived and conducted investigations.
She said she would be able to identify the man who held her a gunpoint but not his companion.
The bread vendor was not available to speak with this reporter but witnesses described the getaway car as a dark coloured Toyota 212.
ANOTHER ROBBERY
That same Saturday night, there was another robbery at Strathspey, a few villages away from Foulis, which saw a business couple losing some $300,000 to bandits who they said they could recognise.
Both of the robbery victims described a fat man of African descent as being part of the group of unmasked bandits who attacked them.
Meanwhile, on Sunday there was one more robbery on East Coast of Demerara. This time at a small Better Hope shop where another businesswoman was robbed and her customers gun butted.
The car which was used by the bandits, to escape from that robbery, fitted the description of the one utilised at Foulis.

(By Leroy Smith)