BERBICE crime sleuths are continuing their investigations into the midnight robbery attack by four masked, armed bandits, who robbed two Black Bush Polder auto dealers of cash, local and foreign, and jewellery exceeding $3M.  The attack occurred just after midnight on Monday and the men fled on horsebacks, leaving behind terrified victims at their Yakusari North home.
Sixty-one-year- old Somwattie Telhu, awoke just after midnight to answer a call of nature. Being awake, she thereafter decided to pray, but was disturbed after noticing that her kitchen curtain was ripped off, and that several louvre panes were missing .
She hurriedly returned to the upper flat through an inner stair, where she told her husband Abdul Azeez of her observations.
The 64-year-old man then armed himself with a cutlass, and with his wife, they hid on their verandah. Seconds later, he heard a loud explosion, and believing it was a gunshot, the couple became fearful and hid the cutlass, for fear of being fatally wounded by the intruders.
Four men, masked, dressed in dark, camouflaged clothing, two armed with long guns, another with a pistol, and the other with a knife, approached the couple, while making demands for cash and jewellery.
Initially, Telhu went into a drawer in the sitting room, where she removed $100,000 and gave the bandits, but they refused to accept that and demanded more
The woman, whose hands were adorned with jewellery, was ordered to hand over her gold jingles, chains, bangles, and rings, along with $1.2M in cash and US$500, totalling $3.7M.
Seemingly satisfied with their booty, the bandits armed with duct tape, taped the male victim’s hands and feet before escaping through the inner stairway of the two-storeyed building, mounting on horses before fleeing in the dark.
No one has yet been arrested.