The armed robbers were reported to be in two groups. A group of about six people were alleged to have forced its way into the house where the businessman was staying after breaking one of the windows, while the other group waited downstairs the building where the shop was.
The robbers were also reported to have gone away with five IPhones, gold chains, watches among other valuable items. Mr. Bourgi's daughter who was in the house had her mouth sealed with her hands and got tied up.
Walid Bourgi, the victim who was contacted for comments confirmed the development to The Point, while describing the incident as very unfortunate.
“I wanted to use the restroom and once I entered, I started hearing noise. So, my daughter came next to the door and asked if I was hearing this noise. I asked her if she knew where it was coming from, but she said no. My daughter decided to go and checked where the noise was coming from. Suddenly, I had her screaming and someone opened fire,” he narrated, claiming the incident happened at around 2 a.m. of Sunday when his family had just ended watching TV and we wanted to sleep.
“I jumped from where I was and I hear a gun being shot. Unfortunately, when I opened the door, someone who was standing by the door gun pointed at me. Immediately, the armed robbers started hitting me and they opened another round.”
The armed robbers, Bourgi explained, asked him to show them the money or he (Bourgi) would be killed. “They dragged me inside the room and asked me to produce the money or risk being killed. They went away with the safe that was inside my house. They asked me to open the safe but I told them that the key is not with me. He kept on slapping and kicking me. I asked them to take the safe because there was nothing in that particular safe.”
The armed robbers, he added, decided to open a bottle of cold water and threw it on him, claiming that three of the armed robbers that entered his house were masked while the remaining were not.
Walid Bourgi further claimed that the robbers went away with an amount between D20, 000 and D25, 000 that was kept in his house, adding that the monies belonged to her daughters for their up-keep.
“When my daughter saw the robbers pointed guns at me and hitting me, she told them that she would lead them to where the money was kept. That was the time my daughter took them to the shop which is downstairs from my house.”
“At the moment I don’t want to reveal the amount of monies that the robbers went away with as the police are currently doing their own investigation with regard to the case.”
“The rampant reports of armed robbery incidents in the country should be a concern to every Gambian. I am urging all Gambians that if they happen to come across these IPhones and the watch on sale at the market let them report it at the nearest police station so that the culprits will be arrested.”
Meanwhile, handsome reward awaits anyone who leads police to the arrest of the criminals.
