Remigrant suffers two robberies in three days

Jul 22, 2010 News

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… now rethinks options

Re-migrant Guyanese businessman, Gopichand Niranjan, says that he is going to seriously rethink his options after three armed men invaded his Courbane Park, Annandale home and Auto Sales business, shortly after 07.00 hrs today.
It was the second time that he had been robbed in three days, and the sixth time in two years.
Niranjan had returned to Guyana to begin business after spending ten years in the United States, despite the reluctance of his wife. Mrs. Niranjan elected to remain in the US.
The story as related by Niranjan and his employees is that the ordeal began at 07.15 hours and the ordeal lasted for half and hour. At the receiving end were Niranjan, his maid Cheline George, and Manager Surujbali Singh.
Cheline said that she was downstairs washing the cars at the time when one of the workers arrived and she went to open the gates for him. She saw a white Carina pulling up with three men in it. They came out of the car and asked for the price of a vehicle. Cheline told them to wait, but one had already got into the compound behind the employee.
She said that she told them to wait again, that the boss was still in bed. As she went up the stairs to get the boss, two of the men followed her up, pushed her into the house and pulled out their guns.
Niranjan told Kaieteur News that he was on his bed, when the two men appeared with the revolvers and pointed them at him.
He said they grabbed his chain, “took off my ring, put me to lie down on the ground, and all the time keep asking me where is the money and the jewellery. I told them I had none.”
He related that they took the maid away to search the house for the keys to the grill door to the room at the back of the house.
“As soon as I attempted to make any noise, they told me not to, threatening to shoot if I did,” Niranjan added.
Surujbali Singh, Manager of Guyana Auto Sales, said he reported for work at 7.30 hrs and saw that the gate was already opened.
He assumed that somebody had already come downstairs and had opened up for business, and that everything was normal.
He said that he made his way upstairs. “Just I walk in the door, one of them pull me in and push me over the chair, asking me wheh de money deh,” Singh said.
As he tried to figure out the reason for the attack, Singh suggested that the men had seen that one of the cars on sale the day before was missing and assumed that it had been sold and that the money was in the building.
“But the car was in town to get some work done on it. They assumed that it was sold and we had the money. When we explained that we don’t get pay in cash but by cheque, they took what they could get and left,” Singh said.
Singh is suspicious of the fact that his boss was robbed twice in two days. He hinted at the fact that the robbery of the Rite Price store on Regent Street could be connected.
However Niranjan does not agree explaining, “If you cleaned the store out the day before, where is the money for me to give you today? It is very hard to put the two together.
You hit me Monday morning you coming back Wednesday, where am I going to get the cash to give you?”
The men were described as being in their mid to late twenties, of African-Guyanese ancestry, and each carried a gun which was either 9mm or 38mm. They were recognised by the Manager and the maid as having visited the Auto Sales yard the previous week looking at cars to buy.
One employee said, “I recognised them. Two of them; they are the ones that ask people for gold at the market. The other boy look like he does work there too.”
The men left with a laptop computer, an attaché case with documents and other items of fake jewellery that were in the locked room.
The manager said that the men did attempt to try pressure tactics. “They put the pillow over my head and one said ‘shoot this one in he head, that one will talk’.
We had to keep calm. What we know (is that) these men all got guns, if you make them panic….,” said Singh.
Niranjan and Singh were placed on the floor and secured with scotch tape while the men took the maid around the house trying to find the keys which were eventually found.
“It was a very scary moment when they put a pillow over the staff head. I was hoping the other staff would come in; they were coming in but there was another of them downstairs and he kept them there,” Niranjan said.
The men took what they wanted, then calmly left in the car that was left running.
Niranjan said that yesterday’s attack was the sixth on his business and the first time his home had been invaded, and that it is the first time that he has called the press.
He said that the police were not pleased that he did so, explaining that he was forced to since they are apparently not doing their job. The businessman stated that he was “clean” and not involved in any shady dealings whatsoever. He knows of no reason for him to be targeted.
“My wife will put a lot of pressure on me now. Two robberies in less than three days. She will want us to go back to live in the US. I had planned to some time in the future but now I may have to fast track,” said Niranjan adding that the fact that he and his wife have a newborn child is not going to make his decision an easy one. There are commitments to be met.
“This was one of my scariest moments (in my life). I thought that at any time the guy could have pulled the trigger. It was scary,” said the businessman.  (Ursulla Ramdayal)

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