Latest update January 18th, 2025 2:52 AM
$4M stolen, two in custody, several on the run
The business establishment that was attacked by the bandits
A .32 round with several matching rounds were recovered from the AT 192. Two men were apprehended at Coverden, East Bank Demerara after robbing a Soesdyke businessman of $4M in jewelery, cash and a quantity of cigarettes on Thursday night.
The two men were apprehended by Soesdyke residents and police after an alarm was raised and four drivers opted to use their vehicles, one being a Tundra, to give chase. The drivers eventually cornered the white AT 192.
The vehicle has been detained by the police and no money was recovered.
Reports are that six heavily armed bandits in a speedboat used the Demerara River to travel to the location where they attacked businessman and grocer, Mangra Raghoo, at 88 Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara.
No one was severely injured. However, the two men in police custody are believed to be working in collusion with the bandits who executed the well planned robbery. The two men were constantly chatting on their cell phones while sitting in front of the Soesdyke business establishment and departed when the robbery was completed.
According to businessman 57-year-old Mangra Raghoo, at 20:00 hours six men armed with handguns and one of them with a shotgun, appeared at the rear of his business which is open to the Demerara River.
He said the men placed his employees to lie on the ground along with a customer, Amelia Persaud, 28, of Soesdyke. Persaud, a vendor, was robbed of her gold jewelery and cell phone.
“They gun butt me and pull me and carry me upstairs. They say they want money. I tell them I don’t have the keys to the wardrobe and they break the door, they carry away a 12-guage licenced double barrel shotgun with shots and six .32 shots. They then left me and run downstairs and get away.” Raghoo said. “They take gold and money. I was told that the men had a boat waiting for hours at the back, waiting to attack…This thing happens so fast.”
Adding that he has been in business for the past 30-years, Raghoo said he is now contemplating installing security cameras on his business premises and also securing the rear of his business from the opening of the Demerara River.
Residents in the area told this publication that they noticed the speed boat lingering at the rear of “Raghoo’s” business since 18:00 hrs and did “not take it for anything since boats are normally in the area.”
One man said that at approximately 20:20 hrs he heard the roar of a boat engine and saw about six men running with bags in their hands. “Three persons alone jump into the boat and the boat leave. Three other persons were left behind and they were hiding in the bushes, the police search and they ain’t find them…Is until after midnight the three men were seen running through ‘Jamoon Alley walkway.”
The Raghoo’s are said to be a popular grocers of the area, supplying St. Cuthbert’s Mission and the Soesdyke environs for many years.
A woman who was a customer at the time of the robbery said that she took off her gold band and shoved it in her pants, but was unable to take off her three gold rings and a gold chain which the bandits snatched off her neck and made good their escape.
Residents collectively disclosed that they would be closely monitoring the case and its outcome depending on the police investigations
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