Police believe taxi driver organised robbery of UG staffer

May 19, 2008 News

Police have detained a taxi driver whom they believe organized the robbery of his passengers on Saturday afternoon.

The driver was detained when he went to the Sparendaam Police Station to report the robbery, which occurred in the vicinity of the Ogle Public Road, East Coast Demerara.

Police, in a press release, stated that they are investigating an armed robbery which took place at about 18:30 hours, during which Parsram Thakur, of the University of Guyana, who resides at No. 67 Village, Corentyne, and his wife were attacked by three men, two of whom were armed with a handgun and a knife, and robbed of jewellery, cash, a cellular phone and a wrist watch.

According to the Police, investigations revealed that the victims had hired a taxi to take them to the University at Turkeyen. When in the vicinity of Ogle Public Road, the driver suddenly stopped, claiming that someone had thrown a missile at his car.

At this point the three bandits came up and held the couple at gunpoint, robbed them and escaped.
Kaieteur News understands that, during the journey, the victims had observed that the driver was acting in a suspicious manner.

They first observed that the driver was constantly on his cellular phone talking in low tones.

Then he tried to take his passengers along the much feared railway embankment, to which the passengers objected.

This newspaper was told that, following the robbery, the driver proceeded to drop off his passengers at the UG Turkeyen Campus before heading to the station.

When the driver told Police his version of the incident, they had already learnt about the robbery and did not buy his story.

The driver remains in custody at the Sparendaam Police Station as investigations continue.