Buxton-based gangs becoming bolder
-warn surrounding villagers
Stabroek News
March 31, 2004
The gunmen who robbed Zarina Singh of Lusignan two Fridays ago regularly hang out at a stand behind Annandale, sources say.
Meanwhile residents warn that gangs are reforming for what could become a repeat of last year's daily attacks that plagued villagers on the lower East Coast. A police source says intelligence showed that there is a small group working between Enmore to Victoria, another group between Paradise to Mon Repos and another group working in Beterverwagting. The police source said it is not clear whether the three groups had links.
The source added that most of the members of the 15-member gang, which robbed and humiliated Singh and her family, are residents of Annandale South.
The source said the men hang out at a stand every day and three of them were recognised two days after the robbery. It is not clear whether the police were alerted, but this newspaper was told that ranks have an idea who they are. A resident of Annandale said the men would gather at the stand in the early morning to play cards. The resident said whenever the police were patrolling the area most of the men would go into hiding.
Meanwhile a businessman of Annandale said he has no doubt that most of the men who usually are at the stand are involved in criminal activities.
The businessman observed that most of them live in Buxton and would team up with friends in Annandale. The man believes it was men from this same group who raided several homes in the village last year. He said some of the men had criminal records, while some were sometimes seen openly walking with guns in their waists.
The businessman said residents have begun taking greater precautions ever since the resurgence of the crime wave. Asked about their security, the businessman said the police usually conduct constant patrols in the village. He said while they were not feeling entirely secure the presence of the cops would give them hope.
He said the village had a policing group, but it was not serving all of the areas and as such areas like South Annandale were left unattended. "We usually close off business early and everybody goes to bed. If certain time reach we would sell from behind our gate."
Selling from behind their gates was a strategy used last year after the bandits had attacked most if not all of the grocery shops in Annandale.
Two Fridays ago Zarina Singh, a market vendor of Lusignan was brutalised by fifteen bandits who robbed her family of some $1M in cash, jewellery and appliances.