Three men, armed with guns and a knife, staged a daring daylight robbery on the home of former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee at Lot 6 and 7 Ixora Avenue, Eccles, East Bank Demerara on Wednesday and carted off with an undisclosed sum of cash and jewelry.

Rohee, who is Parliamentarian for the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the General Secretary, told reporters that he left his two maids at home around 9:30h and was later informed that bandits invaded the property. According to the politician, the grilled back door was left opened so the bandits gained easy access.

“Three men armed with guns and a knife entered the back – tied them up with duct tape took them upstairs to the upper flat; began demanding gold and cash. Of course they [maids] know nothing about that. They assaulted them for a brief while, a few kicks and so on; they began to ransack the house from top to bottom,” Rohee said. Video footage from neigbours is being acquired to establish exactly what transpired.

Rohee said that the men did not take his firearms, which were in the house; he assumed the perpetrators did not see them. When asked if he thinks the robbery was a random one, the former Home Affairs Minister said, “I can’t say really you know, they had to be something make they came to this specific house and leave the others in the neighbourhood.”

According to Rohee, robberies is prevalent in the Eccles area and it is an issue he has spoken about on previous occasions.

“Not because it has touched me, but a significant number of people have come to recognise that the crime situation is becoming more or less intolerable.” He noted that the bandits spent about 20 minutes in his house.