More cops needed for bike snatchers

Feb 20, 2020 News

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From an innocent schoolchild walking home to the garbage collectors who try to keep the country clean. In recent times, there has been an increase in petty crimes in the form of snatchers.
Walking safely along the roadway has become a mammoth task as persons are constantly on the edge, scared every waking minute that they may be pounced upon by unscrupulous thieves, who believe that the world and what it contains belongs to them.
Headlines and countless stories have surfaced with persons recounting the brazen horrors faced by citizens being robbed while going about their daily activities.
Videos have also surfaced showing thieves who move about on motorcycles and bicycles making the getaway a smooth task. One video surfaced on social media recently, showing a woman being thrown violently to the ground.
She had been walking and had crossed the road when, suddenly, two young men on a motorcycle rode up beside her to snatch her handbag. The woman held a firm grip and was dragged and thrown in front of an oncoming car. Fortunately, the driver braked in time. They bore witness to the crime, but were unable to do anything.
Tuesday afternoon’s incident at William Street where one young man was shot dead while his accomplice was shot twice in the legs shows how blatant snatchers have become with no regards for safety and law.
The victims
Kaieteur News spoke to a few persons who experienced the same harsh terror from the snatchers. The stories carried the same trend; citizens are scared and want police to be more aggressive in their patrols exercises.
“I don’t feel safe at all. If I have to walk the streets with worry in my thoughts about who will run up to me and take my hard earned money and valuables, then how safe are we really?
“I could remember as if it were just yesterday, when my brother was at an event, he was on the road with his friends when four men on motorcycles rode up to them and cornered him.
“They snatched his gold chain and emptied his pockets. Luckily, he managed to run away where police were standing. I felt scared for him so I could not imagine how scared he was as the victim.
“This is overbearing. Something has to be done about this nonsense.” – Renada Playter.
“I was walking through the Albouystown burial ground at around 5pm when two guys rode up on a bicycle and robbed me of a phone to the value of $5000 and about $800 in cash. They felt my breast and vagina in search of more money.
After they relieved me of the articles, they pushed me aside and told me to never walk back through here again. I was never fearful, because this was like a short cut to where I was going and I was used to this route.
“Those guys were very young; they didn’t seem more than 20.” – A 17-year-old UG student.
“An afternoon after work, a group of friends and I decided to go hang on the Kitty seawall. It was around 7 pm; three of the five of us left to go purchase food while a male colleague and I waited by the seawall at Sheriff Street.
“While waiting, we observed two strange men hanging around so we decided to walk up a bit. While walking one of the men rode up on a bike and grabbed my colleague and placed a knife to his neck.
“The other one then came and instructed us to go over the wall where they emptied my bag and took all of my valuables then proceeded to do the same to my colleague.
“After resisting a few times, one of the men began slashing him about his face and body with the knife. Up to this day, I panic when I see someone on a bike pull up next to me. Also I have never been back to the seawall since.” – Shivanie Rampersaud.
“When I was a student of the University of Guyana, a friend and I were attacked and robbed. It was a Saturday evening. We had just come out of an examination. The line top, where we usually get transportation, was completely crowded with students, so my friend Tyrone, and I, decided to walk out to the main East Coast road.
“We were the only two persons walking on that road and while walking, two young men on a motorcycle rode past us.
“I saw them and jokingly said to Tyrone, “Let me put my phone in my bag before these guys rob us.” When we arrived on the main road, we saw the two men there; one of them was urinating.
“As we were walking past them to the bus stop, they grabbed my friend and me and demanded that we give them our valuables. We told them that we had nothing on us.
“At the time I had $25,000 in my bag, but they didn’t search it. Instead, my friend gave them a fake gold chain and said to them, “This is all I have.” They rode off and we ran to the closest minibus.” – Milika Singh.

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