Booty was handed over to car at roadblock

Aug 24, 2009 News

– arrested driver

Evidence has emerged that police ranks at a roadblock on the West Demerara had siphoned off cash recovered from the Essequibo River heist into a car that was summoned on the scene by a Cadet Officer.

This was revealed during a confrontation between the two men arrested with the cash and the two police ranks who are being fingered in the missing money probe.

The police had detained the two men on Thursday night with a bag of cash, shortly after detaining three coast guard ranks in connection with the daring $17M robbery in which Dweive Kant Ramdass lost his life.

It was reported that the cash recovered at the roadblock amounted to in excess of $5M. However, at the La Grange Police Station where the men were subsequently taken, the police only declared $1.5M.

According to reports reaching this newspaper, one of the arrested men is the brother of the alleged mastermind of the robbery, a Lance Corporal of the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard.

The other is a taxi driver who was hired by the rank’s brother to go to Parika.

The driver told investigators that he had picked up the rank’s brother on the East Bank of Demerara on Thursday afternoon after agreeing to a fare of $6000 for the return trip to Parika.

Upon arriving at Parika, the driver and his passenger stood by the GBTI branch where they waited for the Coast Guard rank.

Soon after, the rank handed a bag to the passenger with instructions to take it to his mother.

The two men claimed that they did not know what was in the bag at the time, but it was “very heavy”.

On their way back from Parika, they were stopped at a roadblock near the Demerara Harbour Bridge at around 18:45 hours.

The ranks, who included a Cadet Officer, informed them that they were carrying out routine checks and demanded the documents for the car.

When this was done, the police observed the bag in the front passenger seat and ordered the men out of the car.

They questioned the men about the contents of the bag and were told that it was given to the passenger by an army rank to take to his mother. This newspaper understands that the Cadet Officer who was in charge of the roadblock took possession of the bag and subsequently opened it.

This newspaper was told that when he observed that the bag was full of cash, he blurted out: “Oh shucks, this is the money wha just get thief.”

The men were ordered to lie on the ground while the Cadet Officer made calls on his cellular phone.

He also reportedly hinted at “getting rid of these men.”

According to the driver, while lying on the ground for several minutes, another car subsequently pulled up at the roadblock and the Cadet Officer with the bag of cash in his hand proceeded towards it.

The driver said that from his vantage point, he saw the Cadet Officer pour some of the cash into the trunk of the car which immediately sped away.

Back-up was then called for and the driver and his passenger were taken to the La Grange Police Station.

The driver told investigators that at the La Grange Police Station he saw the bag that had contained the cash and this time it looked empty.

He made the observation in the presence of other ranks who became suspicious of their colleagues and an investigation was immediately launched.

Kaieteur News understands that during a confrontation the cadet officer exhibited arrogance, claiming that “I ain’t got no time with this. I ain’t know bout no money” and walked out of the confrontation room.

Police Commissioner Henry Greene had assured that the force will be pulling out all the stops to get to the bottom of the matter since the allegation could turn out to be very embarrassing to the Police Force as a whole.

Meanwhile, this newspaper understands that the taxi driver was released yesterday.

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Booty was handed over to car at roadblock

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