Cops probe robberies in Gasparillo and Siparia

A 51-year-old man was robbed at gun­point while at a hard­ware store in Gas­par­il­lo on Fri­day af­ter­noon.

Po­lice said around 2 pm, the vic­tim was at Kiswah Hard­ware and Bar along Caratal Road, Gas­par­il­lo, when he was ap­proached by two masked ban­dits. One of them point­ed a gun at him.

He was robbed of a Sam­sung A6 cell phone, a so­cial wel­fare cheque and $2000. They then ran­sacked the vic­tim's ve­hi­cle be­fore leav­ing in a sil­ver Nis­san Wingroad.

Gas­par­il­lo po­lice are in­ves­ti­gat­ing.

Mean­while, po­lice are search­ing for two men who chased, beat and robbed a 53-year-old pro­pri­etor of $30,000 in Siparia.

Po­lice said around 8.40 am on Fri­day, the vic­tim parked his Nis­san Ti­i­da Hatch­back on the com­pound of the NP Quik Shoppe at Low­er High Street, and be­gan walk­ing to­wards Re­pub­lic Bank Lim­it­ed.

While he was at­tempt­ing to cross the SS Erin Road, two as­sailants be­gan to pur­sue him.

The vic­tim ran in the di­rec­tion of the Fyz­abad Taxi Stand, but one of the as­sailants caught up to him and struck him twice on his face.

The oth­er sus­pect dipped in­to his pants pock­ets and robbed him of $30,000 and his ve­hi­cle keys, and then drove off.

How­ev­er, the ve­hi­cle crashed in­to a met­al rail­ing op­po­site the Quik Shoppe, forc­ing the ban­dits to flee on foot.

Of­fi­cers from the Siparia Po­lice Sta­tion are in­ves­ti­gat­ing. - Sascha Wil­son