'Masked man pointed gun at me' - witness to Dubai raid

"I couldn't eat or sleep all day on Sunday," said the counter assistant who was on duty during the Dh1 million robbery at the Motor City branch of Redha Al Ansari at 2pm on Sunday.

He was attending to a customer and did not realise what had happened until he saw a masked man pointing a gun at him.

"I don't know if it was the shock, or I just couldn't understand him, but he was talking very fast."

From his angle he could see only one robber. The other went straight to the cashier's counter, which is the closest to the door. One of the assistants hid behind his counter and hit the alarm.

"They managed to take a lot of cash and the cashier's briefcase, which contained large sums of money.

"Everything happened so fast, as soon as the initial shock wore off, three of us ran to the back room and locked ourselves in. We didn't come out until one of our colleagues told us they had left."

The assistant feels better now, but is still deeply upset by the robbery. "This place is very quiet, there is no security roaming here, I only see them at the washroom. The exchange only has cameras and an alarm but no security guards."