Bandits escape with $3 million from Corentyne cambio dealer

An Upper Corentyne cambio dealer was Monday robbed of $3 million by three bandits who attacked him with cutlasses.

Daneshwar “Peter” Pananlall, 40, of 114 Elisa Mary, Springlands, Corriverton, recalled that on Monday at approximately 07:30hrs he had just left home and was on his motorcycle when the men pounced him as he slowed down to turn by a culvert a short distance away.

One of the men held a cutlass toward him while another struck him on his head. He was then relieved of the money, which included local and foreign currency. The third assailant stood guard a short distance away and once he signaled the others to leave, they pushed Pananlall off his bike and fled.

“I get up and start run behind them but they were too fast and they disappeared. I took out my phone which was on my waist and called the police but they came like 40 minutes later.”

Pananlall’s wife, who was on the bridge to see her husband off, witnessed the ordeal and raised an alarm but the men escaped quickly; the attack on Pananlall took less than 2 minutes.

The cambio dealer said he was questioned extensively by the police and they took him to the station where he was subjected to another series of questions including where he got his money from and why the men did not take his jewelry, a silver band nor his phone.

Pananlall resented the way he was treated by the Police.

He said the stolen cash is what he had accumulated over the years working in the estate.

After the closure of the Skeldon estate at which he worked, he decided to use the severance pay to buy and sell foreign currency to continue earning.