An Attempted Robbery
At first I wasn’t sure whether to include this entry on the website. It makes Bishkek seem like a dangerous place … but, basically, it isn’t. It’s probably no more dangerous here than in other big city in the world. I know there are statistics about crime and you sometimes read about one city or another being the “Murder Capital” of the world … but robberies and attempted robberies happen everywhere … Unfortunately, I got caught up in one. This is that story.
The next day, despite the fact that I had been told that, strictly speaking, I should not be at the computer at all … I thought it important was to inform the embassy and insurance companies of the event as soon as possible, so I sat down and wrote them a quick email … this is an expanded version of that relatively short message.
Incidentally, I find that writing this sort of account has a cathartic effect. It not only helps me to organize my memories and my thoughts – it also helps me to “get it out of my system” and put the incident behind me. It’s not only true for “dramatic” events like this one, but I find it a useful technique in all sorts of circumstances. Usually no-one ever gets to read such accounts. Sometimes, even, after a couple of days they are deleted from my computer, having done their job.
My memories of the incident, itself, are fairly limited, restricted to about five or six specific points … as a result of shock and/or concussion … but during the day yesterday I spoke to several people and was told other points – but let me start with what I remember.
1. I woke early, about 5:30, and because I have a bad back and felt uncomfortable, I decided to get up and go down to the office. (I live on the second floor and my office is on the ground/first floor of the same building). I fed the cats (one, mine, in the office and two stray, in the yard) and then settled down to check the emails …
I am not sure, I simply cannot remember, but I am certain that I would have locked the door as I always do when I am on my own – even during the day.
2. The next thing I remember, however, was sitting in my chair at my computer with my head held back, an arm around my neck and a knife placed against my neck.
I seem to recall hearing a noise and thinking that Nadia, my cleaner had arrived, and yelling “Nadia, militzia” … but then hearing a scream and thinking, they’ve got her, and yelling :”let her go, let go” in Russian.
I am not sure why, because I don’t remember seeing a face or hearing them say anything, but I got an impression that my assailant was of Asiatic origin, sunburnt, about 30 and wearing a black cloth windcheater jacket and a knitted woollen hat. As I say, I am not sure why I have that impression, but I do.
3. The next thing I remember is being on the floor, being kicked to the head and in the chest.
4 The next thing I remember is being in the corridor talking to Tony (from one of the other apartments) and Roma, (who is staying with me with his girlfriend, Yana). There was blood around, I was bruised and had a small cut, “nick”, in my neck and on my left hand from the knife and a couple of small cuts in my gums. Tony made a point of taking a photo of my face … in case I needed it as proof later on … or so he said … I am not sure about that, he was smiling mischievously when he snapped it.
5. I am not sure how we got there but I remember being in the hospital – Roma was with me – and a group of about 6 or 8 police from the “Foreigner’s Department” arrived. I knew one of them and we spoke. They asked me several questions. Then I was seen by two doctors, one of whom spoke a little English, and had some x-rays taken. They said that the results of the x-rays looked fine, but I should go for an MRI scan. The telephoned and fixed an appointment for 12 o’clock and explained to Roma where I had to go and what I had to do.
6. We then went back to the office where there lots (LOTS) of police.
My office was in a mess with blood all over the floor … not a great deal but enough to make a real mess … and things scattered around the room. There was a lot of black and yellow powder everywhere, probably from the search for fingerprints. My safe had been dragged out from underneath my desk and the keys were in the lock but it was still closed. (There is also a code needed and it seems that had not been entered). It was covered in yellow powder and I was not sure if it had been dragged out of position buy my assailants or the police searching for fingerprints.
They took several (but not all) of my staff, and Roma and his girlfreind, Yana, to the police station to take statements. I made a point of saying that I needed Roma by midday because I had a medical appointment and they said “no problem” … as it happens, they didn’t release him until about 3:00pm and as he had the Napraklenie (details of what scan was necessary) for the doctor … I I didn’t know where to go and what we had to do, so we had to find the original doctor to get him to give us the details again … and as a result we were late for the scan. They were very busy with all sorts of patients – but I seemed to be the only one who was there as a result of a beating.
In the meantime, together with my Chief Accountant, Auditor/Lawyer and the Manager of our hotel, (the Silk Road Lodge) who acted as translator for me, I spoke to a police officer who took my zayavleniye (complaint) and conducted the initial interview. They asked what was missing and at that point it looked as if almost everything was still in place – two mobile phones, a laptop, a digital camera … and I checked the safe, it seemed to be OK … the only things I could see that seemed to be missing were two wallets (one with a small amount of money and a credit card which has yet to be authorised) and another … which I have since found. As far as I can tell … everything else is here … nothing is missing.
Two policemen appeared and wanted to speak to me alone, but as I had to go to for the MRI, they left.
After the scan, I spent the rest of the afternoon simply taking it easy and talking to people … trying to reassure everyone that I was OK – this sort of thing happened all over the world … even in the UK … etc. Two policeman came to interview me … and then left.
Tony invited me to dinner, and afterwards my accountant arrived with an emergency doctor (from Reanimatzia – Intensive Care) who examined me, dressed my wounds and gave me some medicine. Then I went to sleep.
That’s what I remember … As a result of talking to others, I also have pieced together that …
It happened at about 7:50 am. It appears that Nadia, my cleaner, had already arrived and we had chatted a little before the assailants arrived. I obviously didn’t remember this during the incident – and I still can’t remember it.
There were at least three of them. One grabbed Nadia who was in the kitchen washing up and held her with a knife to her chest. Another rushed past into my office and grabbed me. A third went into the second room, (to cut off any means of escape?). He disconnected the telephone – but only one of them, the others all worked.
The reason they left so suddenly and empty handed was that there was a phone call which seemed to panic them and they ran away. My driver, who arrived at that moment, apparently saw them running and a fourth person standing nearby, whom he thinks was a “lookout”. If he was, then maybe he made the call to warn them … who knows?
There is a theory that apparently they wanted the code to the safe and I wouldn’t give it to them – and that is why they started kicking me … but I can’t say if that is true … Nadia can’t remember and neither can I. Actually, I would be surprised if this is true … my attitude and instructions to our staff is … if there is a real threat – give them the money. It’s only money. It’s better to give them the money than for them to take your life.
After they left, Nadia and I ran out of the office and rang all the door bells in the building crying out “call the police, call the police.” Some one did and we went back down to the office … where I was confused and kept asking the same questions over and over again … getting answers but forgetting both the fact that I had asked and received a reply. I don’t remember any of that.
I think Tony was quite impressed at exactly how many police descended upon the office … by the time I got back from the hospital there must have been about twenty but some – such as the fingerprint experts, the dog handlers … yes they brought the dogs in to see if they could follow a trace – had already left.
The police went through the neighbouring blocks, asking questions, looking for potential witnesses.
They have asked people all sorts of questions about all sorts of topics including our business and my private life … and making all sorts of allegations to different people … presumably to judge their reactions.
It’s their job and that doesn’t worry me too much. They have to consider all alternatives … and I have been asked by different people if I think it was just an attempted robbery; if I have made enemies who were trying to get back at me – e.g. have I sacked anyone recently; could it have been someone “trying to give me a warning”; if it was directed against me because I am British or perhaps, even, a the actions of jealous lover.
My gut feeling is that is was a simple attempted robbery … probably by youths rather than serious, professional criminals … they chose a relatively good time, early in the morning when few people would be around - but also a relatively bad time as people would be arriving for work … they seem to have wanted the safe – Nadia tells me that it was dragged out from under the desk at that time rather than later by the police … the choice of the knife as a weapon seems to be an increasing trend here, but if I had upset someone who wanted to get at me personally, then they would have had a better choice of time, place and weapon and wouldn’t probably worry about making it look like a robbery … there was nothing to indicate, to me, that it was anything other than a attempted robbery.
In fact I have been told that there have been a spate of similar robberies … including at a shop, a sauna and air ticketing agency … four in five in the centre of the city and at least another four or five in one of the outlying districts. In at least one case they took the safe, loaded it in a car and drove away – no mean feat as the safes are quite heavy.
The sad thing is that they wouldn’t have got much for their efforts even if they had taken the safe away. I make a point of not keeping money in the office … as it isn’t safe. That’s what banks are for. I even tell people that. I even make a point of telling people that. I don’t know if they believe me – but it’s true … I only ever have enough cash in the office to pay the immediate bills.
On the other hand, there is one thing that is worrying about this case: that they seemed to know a fair bit about the office – especially its layout and the location of the safe. They ignored another safe which is basically empty and rarely ever contains money, just the company stamp and a few documents. This suggests that either they have been here before or someone told them about it.
As a result, the two policemen told me that they thought it was an “inside job” and they want to concentrate their efforts on our employees. I told them that I think they are wrong … apart from the fact that I know my staff, (and OK, I accept that I could be wrong about them), although the assailants might have gone direct for “hidden safe” ignoring the more obvious one, but they didn’t seem to know everything. Also, we’ve had quite a number of strange visits lately … such as people apparently lost and asking for directions, (which is very odd given our location) … and even two policemen claiming to be the beat officer, who were surprised when I refused them entry saying “No, you’re not, I know the beat officer, he was hear about a week ago”. (They came up with a story about him having been transferred, about having seen me a year ago – if so I didn’t/don’t remember, and one of them claimed to be the “Senior beat officer”. They had uniforms and identity cards … but I still didn’t let them in.) Also, in recent times there have been a lot of people simply standing idle around – either in the yard, smoking or drinking, on the street (apparently waiting for minibuses for example), or on the street corners. Several of our neighbours have also commented on the “strange” people who have been “hanging around”.
When I first came here I was warned that it was dangerous … but I have never really found that … yes, I’ve been attacked, more than once … and I know several others who have been attacked … but every instance I am aware of has been something that could have happened anywhere in the world. Incidents such as people walking home, in the early hours of the morning, through dark streets, with no street lights.
As a result – and also as a result of a number of incidents which have occurred, both to me and to others – I am normally very careful, attentive and watchful. I have been attacked before and this not the first time I have had a knife held against me, or been knocked to the ground and kicked – but it is the worst that I have encountered! Also, I’m not the only person from our office to have been attacked, especially in the last couple of years, (two of out employees, for example, have been attacked on their way home in the evening.)
Having said all that – as I said in the introduction, I wouldn’t want to give the impression that Bishkek is particularly dangerous … these things happen all over the world …
Of course nobody wants it to happen to them ,,, and I would have been a lot happier if it hadn’t occurred … but it did and I can’t pretend that it didn’t.
The most important thing is that both Nadia and I are alive and well … maybe shocked and shaken, not exactly 100% of our former selves … but we both feel that we have to keep to keep going and put the incident behind us.
Oh, and yes, we are looking at our security measures once again.
Aftermath:
I am a little surprised by this, but I am told that, as they didn’t get away with much, and the fact that it wasn’t necessary to hospitalize either Nadia or myself as a result of our injuries, the most that the assailants can probably be charged with concerning this particular instant, assuming they are eventually caught, is “hooliganstva” … This has a slightly more serious connotation here than in the west where the word “hooligan” is probably overused in terms of soccer fans “running amok” … but all the same – the intention, the threat, the risk were all the same and, it seems to me, the fact they were unsuccessful, for whatever reason, shouldn’t diminished that much from the seriousness of the assault compared to what it would have been if they had happened to succeed.
As for me:
For the record: the result of the scan was fine. I feel extremely stiff, especially when I get up in the morning … as my body gets used to movement. I also have a bit of difficulty breathing, especially taking deep breaths, but the doctors all tell (I’ve had three opinions) that the x-rays show that the ribs are in good shape – no breaks, no cracks. They thing the pain will go with the passage of time. At the time of writing I actually look a lot worse than I am … mainly because of two dressings on wounds – one on a cut on the top of my head and another over the cut on the neck and the fact that they have given me some brown cream to ease the bruising and swelling. I’ve developed a real shiner of a black eye … and it’s swollen quite a bit, but the other swellings are dying down and there are some other bruises … all of which will take a few days to subside. Fortunately, it’s not terribly painful.
I had expected the second day to be worse … the affect of the adrenalin having subsided and so forth. In some ways it was, but I took it easy and spent of the day, well, the afternoon at least, in bed sleeping and now, three days in, I felt OK. On the third my black eye swelled up but on the fourth it had already started to subside and my neck muscles began to ache. It was time to show face so I went to the hotel and a couple of other places to show that 1) I was still alive – I was OK and 2) I hadn’t jumped on the first available flight back to the UK.
I’m trying to think of it like a Rugby injury.
Bishkek