Undergraduates Navin Kumar and Brendan Harnett reported the incident to Troy Police on Friday, shortly after the three men had left.

In an online account of the incident, Kumar said the men knocked on their door late Friday night and said they wanted to purchase marijuana from the students.

The men wouldn’t leave, even after Kumar and Harnett told them they had nothing to sell to them. "That prompted the three men, two well-built and one more slight of figure, to offer more money, insisting that we were holding out on them," Kumar said.

The situation quickly escalated. The men eventually forced their way into the apartment, brandishing one handgun with others possibly concealed. They ordered the students to kneel with their faces in their sofa, and then bound them with loosely tied category 5 cable, which was less than effective, "although I didn’t dare say as much," Kumar reported.

"It was literally so poor that I had to hold my right hand over my left to keep it from simply pulling out," Harnett said.

The intruders rummaged through the house, disconnected appliances, and took the pair’s cell phones and some money. Other than that, the incident wasn’t much more than an annoyance to the students.

The students said they were surprised at how calm they were able to remain during the incident. "I would’ve expected to be more panicked than I was," Harnett said.

Kumar said it was due to how little he felt he could do. "It’s kind of like a roller coaster ride," he said. "Just sit and watch it go by."

They also had few valuables in the house, excluding computer equipment which would be hard for the intruders to carry out. The thing they were most worried about was the men causing damage and making a mess, "which they were nice enough not to do," Harnett said.

Troy police investigated the area for forensic evidence and questioned the students. Their investigation is ongoing.