A terrified shopkeeper was robbed in broad daylight and threatened with a eight-inch knife.

Owner Jeevan Rasiaa, 41, said he was alone in the Bestwood shop when two masked men walked in.

The robbers made off with around £500 from the till, a bottle of whisky and cigarettes.

He said: “One was wearing a grey jumper and the other a green one.

“They both had a knife and they told me not to move.

“Eventually they both came behind the counter where I was standing and took money out of the till as well as cigarettes and a bottle of whisky.

“It was all over in around three minutes but I was so shocked. We are such a small business, serving a really local area and you never expect anything like this to happen.”

Dad-of-three Mr Rasiaa has run the shop on Capenwray Gardens in Nottingham with his wife, Sarwas Jeevan, 36, since March 2018.

He and his wife live upstairs with their three children aged five, six and 11.

He added: “It was so scary because we have all the children upstairs and they’ve all seen the CCTV footage now and they were terrified.

“It makes me angry as well that people think they can get away with doing this, but at the moment I’m just still in total shock.

“I think I recognised the men as well, I think I’ve seen them both come into the shop and I think they were looking around to see how many people worked here and what they’d be able to take.”

People living near the shop also expressed their shock at the incident.

A local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, added: “This is totally abnormal for this area.

“I heard about the robbery not long after it happened but I was totally shocked because I’ve not seen anything like that before around here.”

Mr Rasiaa added: “As soon as they left I called the police and the two guys both ran away in different directions from the shop.

“Since we’ve been here we’ve never had anything like this at all and this is a nice area to have a shop so I want these people found.”

Nottinghamshire Police said they received a report that on Saturday, December 14, two men entered the Bestwood Hill Food and Wine store at around 3pm.

They say another incident in Sherwood last night may be linked.

Detective Sergeant Andrew Pym, of Nottinghamshire Police said: “Our officers are committed to ensuring that people are able to live and work safely in our county.

“This incident happened in the afternoon and I am hopeful that someone may have seen something that could help us catch those responsible.

“If you saw anything or have any information that could aid our officers in their investigation, please do not hesitate to contact us on 101 and quote incident number 515 of 14 December 2019.”

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