A man was shot in his leg and another broadsided on his back when four armed bandits ran amok at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo early yesterday morning.

Dressed in black and wearing stocking masks the bandits invaded the home of Nadira Khan of Lot 57 Acme Scheme, Vergenoegen before carting away some $120,000 in cash and close to $1M in jewellery.

The robbers also fired off several shots in the woman's house before shooting her son, Imtiaz Khan, in his leg and broad-siding another, Imran Khan, on his back. Imtiaz was up to press time receiving medical attention at a city hospital while his brother was treated at the West Demerara Regional Hospital and sent away.

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Police were unable to stop the criminals who scaled two fences before escaping somewhere in the vicinity of the Vergenoegen foreshore. No one has been arrested.

Nadira Khan yesterday related that she was woken up around 1:30 am by noise in her yard. The woman said she got out of her bed and immediately went outside and switched on the lights.

She realised that the noise was coming from the direction of her bathroom and once there she saw one window pane missing. Awake by then, both Imran and Imtiaz saw the hands of one of the bandits trying to get through the window.

Khan said one of the boys armed himself with a cutlass and ran to the bathroom. While there the boy spotted one of the bandits' hands and he fired a chop which did not connect.

Realising that they were being confronted the bandits kicked down the back door and announced their entrance with two shots, one shattering a cabinet and the other piercing a bedroom wall.

Example: broadsided him on his back

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Nadira related that all four bandits were armed with handguns but one was carrying two. Imran was at the time trying to make contact with the police and a bandit wrestled the phone out of his hands, unplugged it and broadsided him on his back. She said the bandits then commanded them to stay quiet and the man who was carrying the two weapons shot Imtiaz in his leg.

Nadira said one of the bandits then forced her and the two sons into the front bedroom where he ransacked the bed drawers while demanding cash and jewellery. Nadira told this newspaper she was forced to hand over some $100,000 to the bandits. They also grabbed the gold jewellery.

"We hand them over everything, but one a dem said that ain't enough and he put a gun to mi head," the woman said. Nadira recounted that she was then forced into another room where she handed over another set of money amounting to about $15,000. The bandits fired off another set of shots before jumping two fences The cops arrived some five minutes after the bandits fled.

Over recent months armed robberies have soared in the West Coast Demerara area.