Gang of six beats, robs Essequibo family

-police hold two

Wednesday, January 19th 2005

Six armed bandits stormed an East Bank Essequibo (EBE) home early yesterday morning robbing a Canada-based man and his wife of over $1.5M in jewellery and another $200,000 in cash.

The bandits wore bullet-proof vests, black toques and big boots. And late yesterday afternoon, police picked up two of the suspects, residents of Good Hope, EBE, who were positively identified by the victims.

 

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Carol Jargoo related that her husband Jeffrey Jargoo had only arrived in the country around 3 pm on Monday and the bandits struck early yesterday.

According to the woman, she and her husband were fast asleep in the downstairs home yesterday morning when he awakened her to say he was not getting enough air in the room.

The woman said at the time there was a blackout and she went to one of the windows and opened it when all of a sudden she saw two men in the house.

She said they and a third man, having apparently entered the house before she and her husband woke up, stormed in; one brandishing a cutlass and the other two with guns.

A cutlass

 

Once in the room, they asked for her husband and demanded $6M from him. "Wheh de $6M deh?" Jargoo quoted the bandit as saying.

She said her husband informed them that he did not have that amount of money and they proceeded to beat them.

Jargoo said at this point, three other bandits were in the dining room searching. The beating was so severe, the woman said, that it disturbed her mother who lives upstairs, and she ventured down. Stabroek News was told that once the woman got to the ground floor she was hauled into the bedroom with her daughter and son-in-law. Two other occupants of the house - a 19-year-old and an 11-year-old - were then brought from upstairs and placed to lie faced down in the same bedroom.

  

Jargoo said the bandits held guns to their heads, demanding cash and jewellery. She said they stripped her of all the jewellery she had, along with what her husband was wearing. After collecting the jewellery they grabbed Cdn$500 from her husband, $100,000 from her, a JVC Camcorder valued $200,000 and a Canon camera. They then made good their escape.

According to Jarghoo, the $100,000 was monies collected for rent and what she earned selling at the Parika Market.

The police were called in shortly after the bandits left but arrived some 30 minutes after.

Jargoo said the robbery has left her husband contemplating shortening his stay in Guyana.