Elderly shopkeeper Julian Karim saw off this utterly hapless armed robber - by simply throwing his 'swag bag' back in his face.
Mr Karim, 69, was behind the till when the masked, hooded raider stormed into the store wielding a gun, threw a crumpled carrier bag on the counter and demanded cash.
Unphased, the quick-thinking shopkeeper simply piced up the bag and threw it back in the robber's face - causing the bungling criminal to quickly flee the store. Mr Karim, who has run Central Stores in Cheltenham for 30 years, said: 'He said "Give me the money". I thought he was having a joke or something.
'I said "What are you on about?" and he demanded the money again.
Julian Karim was behind the counter when an armed man marched in and demanded money (SWNS)
The robber brandished a gun, placed a carrier bag on the counter and demanded money (SWNS)
'I told him to get out and threw the bag at his face and I turned around to get something to defend myself with, and when I turned round he had gone.'
Mr Karim even chased the robber out of his shop after the raid at 9.40pm on Saturday but the assailant escaped.
He added: 'I was scared when he pulled out the gun, but I thought I'm not giving him any money.
'I've been here for 30 years and we've never had anything like this before. We don't get any trouble, I'm quite well-known around here.
CCTV footage shows Mr Karim throw the bag in the would-be robber's face - causing him to flee (SWNS)
'I told my customers about it and some were really upset, one was crying. But I want to thank them, they've been really good and very supportive.
'A lot of them have given me their mobile phone numbers so I can call them if I have any trouble.
'I've been here a long time and it's a really good area.'
The armed robber is described as a white man, about 5 ft 9ins tall and around 25 years old, and was wearing a dark hooded top, a balaclava, dark tracksuit bottoms and trainers with light-coloured laces.
Police have urged for anyone with information on his identity to come forward, by calling 101 and quoting incident 133 of April 20.
Comments
Post a Comment