Armed bandits loot cash in Unity state
By Ngor Arol Garang
June 15, 2010 (AGOK) — Three unidentified armed bandits have robbed a shop and hijacked a car in Abiemnhom county of Unity state.
In what witnesses said was a dramatic daylight robbery on Tuesday during which the bandits went away with an estimated amount of more than twenty thousand Sudanese Pounds, there was nobody reported hurt in the incidence.
Mijak Kot Bol, a local businessman in Abiemnom told Sudan Tribune that the robbers, two of whom were armed with AK47 automatic rifles, raided the shop just before it was about to close at 12:30PM on Tuesday.
Narrating the incident he said the criminals started their operation by firing live bullets in the air, forcing customers and shop owners to take cover. In the confusion some of the robbers forced their way into the shop.
A local security guard without a gun could not help at the sight of the armed robbers who ordered everyone in the vicinity to lie down. Within minutes, the robbers had grabbed a carton box containing cash, jumped onto a Hiace car and rushed away after firing more live bullets in the air.
Bol said the robbers emptied the box of the money and threw the container out of the car as they drove away. Their car branched from Bentiu road and headed to a no man’s area just in the forest. Nobody was able to reach them because they were all armed and were still shooting at random.
The robbers also took the taxi car which belonged to another businessman to use it for the escape. Some witnesses said it is the first time such activities happened in the area and added that they saw the car turned to the road leading to Bentiu, the state capital, and vanished in the traffic. It was not immediately clear if the driver of the vehicle was also a robber or was simply hijacked by the robbers.
A check conducted by local police at the shop after the incident found armed strange individuals in the town and arrested them. The local police also arrested a taxi driver whom they suspected of having assisted the bandits to escape.
Aluel Ayuel Chol, resident of Agok who happened to have been among the customers who were caught up in the incident, described the ordeal as traumatizing.
Abiemnom County of unity state is 12 miles (about 19 kilometers) east of Agok in Abyei.
(ST)