Two West Berbice youths will spend the next seven years in jail for unlawful possession of a firearm and  ammunition, and robbery under arms.
Magistrate Nigel Hawke, presiding at Blairmont Court,  imposed the sentences on Troy Nelson, 18, of 54 St. James Street, Hopetown, and Dorwayne Richmond, 21, of 78 Section C Hopetown, after they pleaded guilty to related charges.
They were each sentenced to two years imprisonment for unlawful possession of a .38 revolver, two years imprisonment for unlawful  possession of four matching rounds, and three years imprisonment  for robbery under arms.
Magistrate Hawke ruled that the sentences will run consecutively.
The Court appearances and sentences were the aftermath of a robbery at Plantation Hope, West Coast Berbice, on April 1, when  shopkeeper Yokoliza Seenarine was attacked by two men and robbed of documents and money to the total value of $31,000.
The two were arrested when Policemen responding to the robbery shortly after found them hiding  in a rice field at neighboring Fort Wellington.
They were found with the stolen items in their possession, as well as the revolver and the matching ammunition.
Last week  the shopkeeper and housewife Seenarine had reported  that the men entered the shop under the pretext of purchasing a kite.
She said that the  bandits gun-butted  the woman and her husband Krishna Sewlall about their heads and bodies, tied them up with pieces of wire , gagged them with pieces of cloth and then  ransacked the house, stealing  a passport, a driver’s licence and $25,000 cash.
The men had then ran out of the building and boarded a passing mini-bus.
A quick phone call and an equally  prompt response by the Police at the at Fort Wellington Station led to them having to abandon  the minibus and trying to escape into some bushes.
The Police searched the area and cornered them without incident.
They were kept in custody over the weekend and appeared in Court yesterday where they made a clean breast of the offences and were taken away to serve their respective jail terms.