An East Bank Demerara businessman is contemplating permanently closing his supermarket after bandits hit the business a second time three weeks.
Sometime around 19:35h on Wednesday, three gunmen, two of whom wore masks, executed a daring robbery at the Freshmart Supermarket located on the Covent Garden Public Road, EBD, escaping with over $1 million in cash and valuables from staff and customers.
Guyana Times understands that the businessman had just arrived at the location to balance the cash while two staff were attending to the remaining customers when the three bandits stormed the premises brandishing guns and issuing threats.
They forced the occupants to lie face down on the floor as they proceeded to relieved them of their valuables including jewellery, phones and cash.
According to the owner of Freshmart Supermarket, who requested that his name not be published, the trio was able to steal over $1 million in cash and valuables from both the business and customers at the time of the robbery.
This newspaper understands that the robbery was captured on the surveillance cameras, from which the third unmasked perpetrator can clearly be identified. It was reported that the bandits escaped in a waiting car which was parked directly in front of the supermarket. However, the cameras could not clearly pick up the vehicle’s colour or model.
The businessman further related that three weeks prior to this incident, his supermarket was robbed and although the security cameras managed to record the culprit, the Police are yet to make an arrest.
The man explained that at the time of the first robbery, he was not pleased with the professionalism display by ranks at the Providence Police Station and this time round, he is far from satisfied with the pace of the investigation.
Following these two recent attacks on Freshmart Supermarket, the businessman said that it has been closed for an indefinite period.
“I do not know when or if I am going to re-open my business due to the crime situation and the way in which Police deal with such matters. The Police need to do more and act more rather than offer lip service. The previous matter although it wasn’t such a big robbery, the Police didn’t do what they were supposed to, they didn’t even want to listen to me, really,” the businessman posited.
Meanwhile, the businessman is offering a reward of $1 million to anyone with information that would lead to the arrest of the three gunmen who robbed his supermarket two nights ago.
“I have lost a lot of money…is more than one time now I get robbed and I think it is the same people carrying out the robberies…so I am offering this reward not to do the Police’s work but to help them do the work faster,” he stated.
