Mr Lal barely spoke as the gun holder ordered a younger boy to clear the shelves of cigarettes.
"I was pretty cool, I didn't say much," he said.
A customer waiting at the neighbouring shop Poppas Takeaways, entered the dairy at hearing the commotion and the gunman turned the pistol on him.
The customer retreated, getting the registration of the getaway car, which was later given to police.
The boys fled in a grey Mitsubishi Lancer stolen from Hamilton with between $300 and $400 cash and eight to 10 pouches of tobacco. They emptied the cash register, leaving only a few coins.
A third boy stood outside the dairy keeping watch.
As soon as the robbers left, Mr Lal called 111.
Mr Lal's son, Sachin Narsey, who had been returning to Ngaruawahia from Hamilton, said his baby daughter had been frightened at the sight of the teenagers and his wife had quickly locked the door between the store and the house before trying to call police.
She then called her husband to tell him what had happened.
Yesterday Mr Lal and Mr Narsey were at the store and were arranging to have security cameras installed.
Mr Lal planned to increase security as soon as he could despite this being the first time in 10 years of owning the shop that it had been robbed.
However, nearby dairies had been robbed several times.
Mr Lal said he was relieved to hear from police that they had arrested three teenagers and was grateful police had acted swiftly.
Police arrested three people after a car they were following veered off the road and crashed in scrub.
The tyre of the car had been punctured as they headed west along Rotowaro Rd towards Pukemiro after avoiding road spikes on SH1 near Huntly.
Peter Lee Coker, 17, appeared in the Hamilton District Court yesterday facing charges of aggravated robbery, the unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and theft relating to the incident. He was remanded in custody and is to re-appear before the court next month.
Two 14-year-old boys appeared in Hamilton Youth Court and have been referred to Youth Aid.
