Six bandits have left vegetable vendors at the Stabroek Market broke and battered after staging a daring early morning robbery near the Stelling View Market area yesterday.

The robbery was a replay of one at the Bourda Green earlier this month and has left the vendors bitter and uncertain about their future at the market.

Stabroek News was told that around seven vendors were robbed of thousands of dollars, cellular phones and one man even had his firearm taken away. The 15-minute assault went unnoticed by city constables a stone's throw from the Stelling View Market.

The police and the City Constabulary have commenced separate investigations, but none of the bandits, who fled south along Lombard Street, had been arrested up to press time last night.

Recounting the events, Doodnauth Ramnarine said he and other vendors were at the market purchasing greens and other goods from wholesalers when the bandits struck. It was 4.30 am, Ramnarine said, and he recognized four bandits all armed with handguns. But reports are that another two were terrorising other vendors. Ramnarine said he was purchasing ground provisions, pineapples and other items for another man and had some $240,000. He said the robbers lashed him several times in his head with their guns and kicked him before taking away his money and moving on to other vendors.

He said a watermelon vendor known only as Latchman from the East Coast Demerara was assaulted and stripped of a large sum of money. The robbers beat him on his head also, before relieving him of his handgun.

Next, a woman was robbed of her apron, which contained a large sum of cash.

Mahendra Dilchand, another vendor, said he barely managed to escape the bandit's wrath by running away. "I spot them when they start to rob everyone and so I run away and hide behind a truck," Dilchand said. He told Stabroek News that he had been selling at the market since 1979 and had never seen anything like the terror unleashed on his fellow vendors.

Ramnarine was so badly beaten, his head needed several stitches. He said the bandits told them not to make any noise during the ordeal.

Dilchand said most of the vendors who were robbed were wholesalers and would arrive at the Stelling View Market area from as early as midnight. Over the years, he said, vendors suffered frequently at the hands of pickpockets, who grabbed petty sums, but had never experienced such a large-scale robbery.

"We are not safe anywhere," Dilchand commented, noting that despite them paying up their revenues vendors were not getting the kind of protection and security they needed.

Dilchand said that during the robbery, the City Council Revenue collector was busy collecting rent. He said the City Constables took almost 15 minutes to respond despite being just around the corner.

It was around the same time on the morning of March 3, that six armed bandits took control of a section of Bourda Green, robbing five vendors and around ten customers of thousands of dollars. The police and the City Constabulary response was also slow on that occasion.

Bandits had also invaded Stabroek Market last year, using a blow torch to cut their way into two jewellery establishments after the market was closed and escaping with some $60M in jewellery.

Friday, March 31st 2006