A LONE gunman on Thursday morning robbed Hack Variety Stall in the New Amsterdam Market in the presence of other vendors before making good his escape with in excess on $1M cash.The man reportedly entered the market at about 8:30 hrs, and went into Hack Variety Stall, held an employee at gunpoint and demanded cash. Two bags containing large quantities of money were handed over before the robber made good his escape. According to reports, after leaving the gunman took another employee hostage and then discharged a shot in the air before running to the safety of a waiting motorcycle.
Police are now looking for the gunman and his accomplice. An eyewitness said after leaving the stall the gunman met another employee who was on his way to the stall when an alarm was raised. The second employee has taken hostage as the man made his way out of the market. He was released when a shot was fired into the roof of the market as the bandit headed out of the market. The men got away by riding up into New Street and then into Lad Lane before disappearing.
The employee, Arvin Mature, 35, was too traumatised to speak with the media. Meanwhile, owner of the stall Rashid Hack, who was not on site at the time of the robbery, told the Guyana Chronicle that it was reported to him that a gunman had taken away two bags containing money from the stall. He said he received a telephone call at about 8:30 hrs informing him about the robbery.
According to Hack, he was on a business trip for the past four weeks and as a result all of the sales money was left in the store. In addition to that, Hack said he has given one of his employees a large sum of money to make purchases in his absence and all of the money was not expended. “I only came back in the country on Tuesday and did not have a chance to go through the books and to do any banking as yet; I was hoping to do so today [Thursday] but…”
Eye witnesses say that a man had been in the vicinity of the stall for close to half an hour and told other stall holders that he was waiting on Hack to open to change some foreign currency. “We didn’t pay attention to him because all day people does be coming to Hack and you don’t want anybody to feel that you looking into their business,” a vendor stated. Up to press time it was still unknown how much money was taken by the bandit. Police are investigating. No arrests have been made as yet.