Four suspected bandits arrested; two getaway cars, gun and ammo seized

Last Updated on Saturday, 6 May 2017, 6:36 by Denis Chabrol

Four of six suspects, who were allegedly involved in robbing a shop at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara, were arrested after one of the getaway cars was intercepted, another got into an accident and two of the men were held attempting to cross the Demerara Habour Bridge in other vehicles , the Guyana Police Force said.

Investigators said they also recovered a firearm, along with ammunition,  that they believed was used during the crime.

Two other accomplices are being pursued, police said.

Police did not say whether the cash, jewellery and a cellular phone that were stolen from the shop were found in the possession of any of the suspects.

Investigators were told that at about 1:25  Friday afternoon, four men entered the business operated by a woman and her daughter and pretended to be customers. “Minutes after, two of the men whipped out firearms, pounced and subsequently relieved the victims of their valuables and fled the scene in a waiting Spacio Motor Car; discharging several rounds in the air.”

Police said they immediately responded to a report of the incident and intercepted the getaway car several villages east of Cornelia Ida with only the driver who is from ‘D’ Field, Sophia. The policemen said after the driver told them that the bandits entered another vehicle driven by another of their associates heading towards the Harbour Bridge, they set up a road block.

However, the car transporting the men fled to Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara “crashed into a concrete culvert, during which the driver who hails from Section ‘K’ Vryheid, East Coast Demerara, was alleged to have been accidentally shot in his upper right arm by one of his armed accomplices.”

In addition to the two car drivers, police said two others, including one with the unlicensed gun and ammunition,  were held in other vehicles attempting to cross the Demerara Harbour Bridge.

“The bandits desperate in getting across the Harbour bridge to escape from the police, abandoned their injured accomplice and boarded separate vehicles destined for Georgetown,” a police spokesman said in a statement.

One of the detainees is from Lamaha Park, Georgetown. Police said the detainee with the gun has since admitted to the crime and for shooting his accomplice, who was treated at the West Demerara Regional Hospital and discharged.