Two gunmen, posing as private security officers, on Thursday night robbed the GTT outlet store at Giftland Mall, Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara of $13.4 million in cash and just over $6 million in cheque.
A statement from Police Headquarters revealed that the robbery occurred at about 21:45hrs by the “unidentified men” both of whom were armed with handguns and dressed in the uniform used by a private security service that usually collects money from the outlet when it closes.
According to the police, a 27-year-old supervisor at the outlet said that she and five others were on duty on the second floor of the mall when the two suspects, wearing face masks and fully dressed in security uniforms, approached her and checked the bags with the cash as per normal.
“One of the suspects then went outside to the other staff members and brandished a handgun at them. They were instructed to ‘get on the floor’, to which they complied. The other suspect who was in the supervisor’s room took out a handgun from his pants waist and told the supervisor to go on the floor, which she did,” the police statement noted.
Police said that the gunmen then duct taped the hands and mouth of the employees and locked them in the booth.
The perpetrators then escaped through a back door, made their way into the Giftland parking lot and entered a white old model Raum (number unknown), and headed east on the Railway Embankment.
A short while after, the staff members managed to free themselves and an alarm was raised but by that time the suspects had already left the scene.
Several persons were questioned and investigations are ongoing.
