Coast guards abduct, rob gold dealer’s employee

Aug 21, 2009 News

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Perpetrator’s sister nabbed with $5.7M

Victim missing, ranks detained

Three ranks from the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard were arrested yesterday afternoon following a brazen multi-million dollar robbery in the Essequibo River.
The men were nabbed at Parika, East Bank Essequibo, after police recovered one-third of the stolen money.
The victim 23-year-old Dweive Kant Ramdass of Bartica has not yet been found and is believed to have been killed.
At the time of the robbery, Ramdass was reportedly heading to Bartica with $17M to transact business on behalf of his employer.
Kaieteur News understands that Ramdass along with several other passengers were in a speedboat which had just left the Parika Stelling when they were intercepted by the ranks who were in a green GDF Coast Guard boat.
The Coast Guard ranks ordered the speedboat back to the stelling where they pretended to be searching the passengers. It is believed that they had already singled out Ramdass who was carrying the money in a box.
Eyewitnesses recalled seeing the army ranks arguing with Ramdass at the Parika Stelling.
According to one eyewitness, when the speedboat was forced back to the stelling, the Coast Guard ranks, who were all carrying rifles, took Ramdass out and questioned him about the contents of the box he was carrying and one of them was seen peering into the box with the cash. They then ordered Ramdass into their boat and sped away.
A source closely associated with Ramdass told Kaieteur News that the young man had made several similar trips and it was definitely a case of him being closely watched.
During the trips, Ramdass would normally maintain contact with the source from the time the person dropped him off at the Parika Stelling to when he arrived at Bartica.
“So we does communicate… like every ten minutes we calling one another,” the source stated.
He said he left Parika after he had ascertained that Ramdass was already in a boat and headed back down the West Coast of Demerara, all the while maintaining cell phone contact with him every 10 minutes. Then suddenly the contact was severed.
“From since then I say something wrong, dis man does normally call me when he reach. Was sheer voicemail, voicemail,” the source said.
The man said minutes later he received a call from Ramdass’ brother who asked him if he had heard what happened to the young man.
“He say dem Coast Guard gone with he brother. I say how Coast Guard could gone with he, we don’t do undercover business,” the source told this newspaper.
He immediately decided to return to Parika where he managed to contact the Sergeant in charge of the GDF Coast Guard who was on the base.
“He say he expect them back and he tell me give he ten minutes. I tell he I can’t give he ten minutes because is life we playing with and money involved,” the source related.
Eventually contact was made with the three Coast Guard ranks and they claimed that they had dropped off Ramdass at Bonisika, a location up the Essequibo River, not far from Parika.
Minutes later another call was made to the ranks and this time the source said he heard someone shouting, “don’t answer the phone, don’t answer the phone.”
He then tried to secure a boat to go and look for Ramdass. But just as he was about to do so, he got word that the Coast Guard ranks had returned to Parika.
He confronted them and enquired about Ramdass’ whereabouts.
“I ask dem wha dey do with de youth man. Dey ask me which youth man and I tell dem de youth man with de box wha y’all put in y’all boat. One ah dem seh, ‘oh, dat man pay we twelve grand fuh drop he at Bonasika.’”
But the source said that he did not believe the ranks and invited them into the nearby Parika Police Station.
However, one of the ranks, instead of going into the station, walked off towards the stelling where he held a brief conversation with a woman before rejoining the source and his colleagues in the station compound.
“Den one of me partner tell me come out pon de road. When I go me partner show me this girl with a bag wha’ de Coast Guard banna just give she.” The police eventually arrested the girl and a check of the bag revealed $5.7M in cash.
“Just as how the money pack; just so it been in the bag. Dey had a lil girl with she who say that this man (Coast Guard) call she hurry, hurry fuh collect de bag,” the source told this newspaper.
The girl happened to be the sister of one of the ranks involved in the robbery.
She too was taken into custody at the Parika Police Station. There are reports that two other parcels of cash were placed into two cars which were seen speeding away from the Parika area.
Police set up roadblocks along the West Coast of Demerara but they have not yet recovered the cash.
Investigators are convinced that the Coast Guard ranks abducted Ramdass and took him to an unknown destination further up the Essequibo River where they relieved him of the cash.
At 23:15 hours relatives of the missing Ramdass, along with his employer were combing areas in the Essequibo River in search of him. A senior official of the GDF Coast Guard went to Parika and was seen interviewing the ranks.
Police believe that the same men may have been responsible for the deaths of Jainarine Dinanauth and boat captain Henry Gibson in what initially appeared to be a boat mishap almost two weeks ago also in the Essequibo River.
Dinanauth’s 10-year-old son, Ricky Jainarain, who was traveling in the boat has not been found.
On Tuesday, August 11, last, a search party found a damaged wooden boat with the bodies of Dinanauth, 45, of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, and Gibson, 46, of Hogg Island, Essequibo River, drifting in the vicinity of Hogg Island.
The bodies were discovered after Dinanauth’s reputed wife launched a search, after not seeing the three persons arrive at Hogg Island at a specific time.
Markings on their damaged boat showed that it was struck by a green boat, similar to the one used by the GDF Coast Guard.

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