By Kristen Macklingam

A businessman from De Willem, West Coast Demerara (WCD), is now counting his losses after visiting a bank this afternoon and then being robbed of $200,000 and some important documents when he stopped by a butcher shop to purchase some meat.

Nandkumar Bahadur, who is the owner of Kumar Variety Store located in De Willem, told INews this evening that he visited a bank at Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) around noon today where he had converted dollar notes of large denominations into “small change” to operate his business.

On his way back to his store, he stopped at a local butcher shop and parked his car close to the meat business to purchase beef but had to wait awhile until the butcher who was praying at that time was available to serve him.

That was when the robbery took place, he said.

“I parked my car on the opposite side of the butcher shop about 20 feet away and cross the road and went over to buy the beef. I saw a white spacio car come and park blocking me from seeing my vehicle properly. When the butcher came shortly and attended to me I noticed the spacio speeding away but I didn’t realize it was there as a distraction or to block my view so that they could rob me,” the distraught businessman stated.

According to Bahadur, his money was inside of a bag along with his identification card, bank card(s) and his driver’s licence and his minibus lock had been damaged.

He told INews that it was until he arrived at the door of his minibus then he became aware that it had been broken into and the bag with his valuables was gone.

Bahadur explained that when the realization dawned upon him that he had been robbed he rushed to the nearby general store where security cameras were in place to seek the owners’ assistance in viewing the footage.

“I asked them to run back footage for me because I told them how I had been robbed and they did so. They were able to clearly identify the car and we saw everything how it happened. I then went to make a report at the Parika Police Station where I gave my statement and an officer went to check the footage too then when he was done he said they will look into the matter,” the businessman said.

INews was further told that the breaking and entering into his minibus occurred around 13:00hrs and that the white spacio which was place at the scene of the crime when it occurred had sped away in the direction of Vreed-en-Hoop, WCD.

“The driver of the car looked to be in his mid-thirties and the car headed towards Vreed-en-Hoop, towards Georgetown side. I had thought that the police would have checked the harbour bridge…these people traced me from the bank because, since I wasn’t in the minibus, they could not have known what vehicle to rob and where the bag was,” he contended.