For the second time this year gun-toting bandits converged on a supermarket at Lot 76 Agriculture Road, Mon Repos, ECD yesterday morning and this time the owners say they are prepared to sell out their stock and close up.

Three gunmen posing as customers stuck up the proprietrix of the Rahim and Seeta Grocery Store, several employees and customers, terrorising them for about 20 minutes before escaping with an undisclosed amount of cash and jewellery.

Police said in a release that around 7:30 am Rahim Hussein, his wife and an employee were tending to business when one of the two men entered the shop and requested some items.

Shortly after, his accomplice entered the building and held up the occupants together with a customer Azeem Hussein of Triumph, and robbed the establishment of an undisclosed amount of money and the customer of $50,000 cash and then fled in a white car.

Police responded promptly to the report and found the vehicle which was suspected to be used in the robbery, abandoned at Prince William Street, Plaisance, ECD.

Acting on further information received, a minibus was intercepted at Plaisance from which a suspect was arrested. He had a large amount of Guyana currency stashed in his underwear.

According to the police the suspect is presently on bail on other matters of possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition without licence, which are before the courts.

The suspect and the motor car are in police custody.

When Stabroek News visited the store yesterday it was closed.

Hussein the proprietor who was not at home when the robbery happened stated that this is the fifth time the store has been targeted, the second for the year, he said.

Hussein stated that he is frustrated over the situation and if he gets someone to buy out his stock he would close.

According to Hussein, he and his wife Seeta Hussein have been operating the store since 1987.

This newspaper was told that the previous day, one of the gunmen had gone to the store but after spending a few minutes he left. Yesterday, the same man returned around 7:20 am. This time he was holding his hand as though it was injured.

"He then take out de gun from he pocket and cranked it up", Stabroek News was told.

Two men who were also there pulled out guns and told everybody to get on the floor. None of them was masked.

According to the Husseins, a man who was in the store was gagged and robbed of his cellular phone and cash.

"They den tek a stranger upstairs and ransack the place. They even threatened to shoot the man's son".

Rahim added that a month ago he was about to open his shop when someone telephoned him and told him not to open because there were two gunmen in his yard. "One of the bandits even tek me 5-year-old daughter, hold she by the neck and throw her down".

Seeta informed this newspaper that another customer was robbed of cash. She said that the police did not take long to respond and before long there were several policemen taking statements and fingerprints.

A bag left behind by the bandits was checked for fingerprints but it was not taken away.

A young woman who was in the shop during the ordeal said the gunmen spent about 15 minutes after which they pulled out their guns and locked the door. They reportedly fled the scene in a white car with a cardboard number plate at the back.

Police are continuing investigations into this latest armed robbery.