A carjacking followed by an armed holdup

One of our work vehicles was carjacked last Tuesday evening and then used in an armed hold-up at the Lae Yacht Club on Saturday morning. The stolen white Nissan – which was once in good nick – is now sadly sitting at Lae Police Station worse for wear – with bullet holes all sprayed along one side – and waiting for a tonne of paperwork (literally) to be processed before we can even think about getting it released.

This is the 2nd vehicle we have lost in as many months – the 1st one was involved in an accident late November – and one begins to wonder whether the adage “Three steps forward and two backwards” should in this instance be amended to read “Two steps forward and three backwards”.

You want to see what a raskol looks like? Look no further… check out the bloke lying on the ground in the photo below.

The following story – published in this morning’s edition of The National – goes into a little more detail.

Robbery gone wrong ... A man lies injured at the Lae Yacht Club premises after an armed robbery on Saturday morning went wrong. Reports said four men drove into the club premises in a white utility and stole about K14,000 in cash and cheques. On their way out, the robbers were confronted by a security unit when shots were exchanged and a man, who is recovering at the Angau Memorial Hospital, shot. The robbers abandoned the utility and escaped in another waiting vehicle.. – Nationalpic by RIGGO NANGAN

Story by By RIGGO NANGAN

ONE man is in critical condition at the Angau Memorial Hospital after an armed robbery at the Lae Yacht Club on Saturday morning went wrong,

Four armed men drove into the Lae Yacht Club premises through the gate, unsuspecting while one of them held up a G4S guard at the guardhouse at gunpoint. The vehicle they arrived in was believed to be stolen from an electronic goods employee last Wednesday and had another company’s sticker on it.

Three men rushed into the clubhouse and straight for the club office and held up the employees. They took about K14,000 cash and cheques and were on their way out when a G4S armoured vehicle which was on its routine routine to pick up the money pulled up. The G4S guard who was held up at the gate said he did not suspect anything because the sticker was of a vehicle which always supplied food to the club and never checked it when it drove through the gate.

He said when the utility had gone in, one of the suspect walked up to him and pushed the barrel of a pistol into his mouth and pushed him into a room in the guardhouse. “On hearing a commotion in the club house, the suspect left me and ran to meet his colleagues who were making their getaway after they were disturbed by the armoured vehicle personnel,” the guard said. He said he quickly locked the gate and ran out to the main road while the gang tried to drive out.

The armoured guards exchanged shots with the gang. It was then that one of the suspects, identified later by the guard at the gate to be the one who held him up, was shot and seriously wounded. The armoured vehicle rammed the parked utility to keep it from moving and seeing no way to escape, other members of the gang jumped over the fence and drove away in another vehicle that was waiting on the main street, the Butibam Road.

The injured man was later taken to the hospital by police. Police had issued warning to the public to take extra precautions when moving around in their vehicles because car thefts were on the rise in the city.