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Bandits use Canter truck to rob city Cambio dealer
A nine-member gang, using a Canter truck, robbed city cambio dealer Roy Sarjoo of $1.5M in local currency and US$14,000 yesterday. The gunmen also relieved the victim of his licenced 9mm firearm in the brazen afternoon robbery.
The men, who appeared to be construction workers, used the truck to block the businessman's path at the junction of Third Avenue and Church Road , Subryanville.
They then stormed Sarjoo's vehicle even as he desperately tried to reverse. In the end, his vehicle was left precariously perched over a nearby drain but still on the parapet.
The incident occurred at around 15:15 hours, minutes after the businessman had picked up his eight-year-old daughter from a private school in the area. Speaking after the incident, a visibly traumatized Sarjoo, 36, of A and N Sarjoo Cambio on America Street , recalled that as he was approaching the junction of Third Avenue and Church Road , a white Canter suddenly blocked his path. He said that he saw about nine men, one of whom wore a mask, approaching him with guns drawn. Sarjoo stated that, sensing that he was the target of the attack, he immediately put his vehicle in reverse and tried to evade the gunmen. But in his haste, he lost control of the vehicle, which veered onto the parapet and narrowly missed going overboard in a nearby trench. In a flash, the gunmen had pounced; and after cautioning him, they hauled him from the vehicle and ordered him to lie on the roadway. “They say, ‘don't move or we gon kill you',” Sarjoo said. At the time of the attack, Sarjoo was in the company of one of his employees, Mohamed Raza, who was carrying a quantity of cash on his person. The men relieved him of his firearm and a bag containing some documents before confronting the employee and taking away the cash that he was carrying. He said that the men did not hurt his daughter, who was traumatised by the ordeal. The bandits then re-entered their truck and sped south along Church Road , Subryanville. It is believed that, after fleeing the scene, some of the bandits used another vehicle in their escape. An eyewitness said that as the Canter truck was speeding off, some of the bandits “fell out” and they then entered another waiting vehicle. Residents of the area recalled seeing the truck parked at the junction minutes before the incident. However, they did not pay much attention to it, since the men appeared to be effecting mechanical repairs. It was not until the robbery had occurred that they realised the men who appeared to be construction workers were actually bandits. Several dumbstruck parents who had also collected their children from the school stared in shock at the vehicle perched over the trench. The police were summoned and took fingerprints from Sarjoo's vehicle to aid in their investigations. The businessman, whose father, Neville Sarjoo, was gunned down outside his business place on America Street in May 1998, said that he is thankful that no one was badly hurt, although he suffered an abrasion on his head which was caused by a blow from a gun carried by one of the bandits. Thursday 10-25-2007
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