Taxi driver spills beans on dirty cops

Aug 25, 2009 News

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Taxi driver Leroy Lloyd said yesterday that he came close to being executed by three crooked cops on Thursday night while he was unwittingly transporting a bagful of cash stolen during the Essequibo River heist.
Lloyd believes that the policemen had meant to silence him so as to leave no witnesses after stealing most of the money that they had found on a passenger that he was transporting.
The 20-year-old has told his harrowing story to senior police officers and this has led to the three ranks, including a cadet officer, being placed under close arrest.
There are reports that at least one of the ranks has admitted knowledge about the stolen cash.
Lloyd was also detained but was released on Sunday evening.
In an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, the East Bank Demerara resident recalled that he was driving near the Stabroek Market at around 17:30 hrs on Thursday when a barber that he knew stopped him.
“He asked if I was working and I said ‘yes and he asked how much I would take to go to Parika and back and I said $6,000. He then called somebody on his cell phone and said: ‘the taxi say $6000.’” With that, Lloyd and his passenger headed for Parika.
When they reached the Parika junction, the passenger again spoke on his cell phone to indicate that he had arrived, Lloyd said.
According to the taxi driver, the passenger indicated that he should drive further and stop near a commercial bank. On reaching the location, Lloyd said he saw three Coast Guard ranks standing outside the bank.
According to Lloyd, the passenger went to the Coast Guard rank “with stripes”, and returned to the car shortly after with a “very full” black Puma haversack. The passenger then placed the sack between his legs in the front seat and they headed back to Georgetown.
Lloyd said that as he was nearing the Demerara Harbour Bridge he spotted a police roadblock, which was manned by three ‘black clothes ranks with big guns.’
“I put on my internal light and the police stop me and ask where I coming from, and I say I went to Parika with a passenger and come back.
He recalled that one of the ranks ordered him to “pull in a corner” and take out his documents and step out of the vehicle. The passenger was also ordered to disembark.
According to Lloyd, the rank who appeared to be in charge ordered him to open his car trunk and watch while the search was conducted.
Eventually, the policeman proceeded to the passenger’s side of the car and spotted the haversack.
“He ask is who bag and the passenger say ‘is me bag boss man’, and he tell the passenger to open the bag on the trunk.”
Lloyd said when the bag was opened, he heard the police rank exclaim: “This bag full of money!” According to the taxi driver, he was standing close enough to observe that the bag was filled with “big slabs” of money.
“When he (the policeman) see the money, he say: ‘Where you get all that f—ing money from?’, and the passenger say: ‘boss man, me ain know is money, me brother is a Coast Guard and he tell me collect the bag.”
Lloyd alleged that the police rank then slapped the passenger and ordered them to lie facedown on the ground. “He then called the other two ranks and say ‘come and see what going on here.’
Lloyd alleged that after checking the bag’s contents, the policemen “cocked their guns over our heads.” According to him, the rank spearheading the search said: “What you want to do with these men, you want we kill them?”
“The others say ‘yeah boy.’”
The taxi driver alleged that several passing drivers attempted to stop but the ranks angrily told them to continue on their way.
Lloyd said that the senior rank asked one of the policemen for a telephone number, and the senior rank then dialed a number on his cell phone. Lloyd alleged that he heard the rank say: “come and meet me at this direct spot.”
The taxi driver stated that about five minutes later, he heard a vehicle stop behind his car. He said that although he was unable to see the vehicle, he observed that the wheels had “big grips”. This made him surmise that the vehicle was some sort of pickup.
He said the vehicle remained at the scene for about three minutes before it “pull off with a speed.”
After the vehicle had left, the senior rank sent out a radio message to his colleagues informing them that they had searched a vehicle and found a sum of cash.
While one of the ranks drove Lloyd’s car, the taxi driver and passenger were ordered to lie facedown in the police van, which headed to La Grange Police Station.
At the station, they were taken behind the counter and ordered to lie on the ground, where Lloyd said the ranks relieved him of his day’s earnings of $10,000. They were then placed in the lockups. By then, the three ranks who had arrested him had left.
Kaieteur News was told that two ranks from Eve Leary eventually arrived at the station, and the police ranks took them out of the cell to the CID office at La Grange Station. Lloyd said that one of the ranks from Eve Leary then questioned him and then asked the ranks to bring the haversack into the room.
“He call for the bag and ask if is the same bag and I say yes. He open the bag and (this time) I had to look in the bag to see the money.
“He ask me to look in the bag to see if this is the money that was in the bag, and I say ‘boss man, this bag drink thinners, that is not even half of what was in the bag.’”
Lloyd alleged that the officer then tried unsuccessfully to contact the three ‘black clothes’ ranks who had manned the roadblock on their mobile phones.
The taxi driver and passenger were eventually taken to the Leonora Police Station, where they remained until the following day.
“Next day, they take me to the front (of the station) and ask if I could identify any of the policemen and I say yes.” Lloyd alleged that shortly after, he spotted the cadet officer who had manned the patrol. “He was wearing a black Levi jersey and I say ‘that is the officer that conduct the search.’”
The officers then brought the rank into a room for a confrontation with Lloyd, who said that he again repeated all that had transpired.
“He (the accused rank) did not respond. He got up during the confrontation and walked out.”
Lloyd said he was then transported to the Parika Police Station. On Sunday morning, he was transported back to Leonora and then to Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, where he gave a statement.
Lloyd recalled that the three accused ranks were also interrogated at the station. According to Lloyd, he overheard one of the interrogating officers questioning one of the accused ranks about the number of cars that the suspect owned:
“He (the interrogating rank) say ‘I talk to you yesterday and you beating ‘round the bush. How much car you own?’ He (the accused rank) say ‘one’, and he (the officer) say, ‘you ain’t take out a car the other day? You take the (robbery) money to pay off on the car.’”
Lloyd said that eventually, the police officers informed him that he was free to go.
Despite his ordeal while in custody, the taxi driver said that he considers himself fortunate not to have been killed at the roadblock.
“I tell myself I lucky,” he said.
While the three police ranks remains under close arrest yesterday, it is unclear whether they will be charged.

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