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Suspected housing fraudster caught
A bogus land dealer who was wanted by police was caught yesterday during a daring daylight sting operation.
It could have been a scene from the movies.
The arrested suspect being escorted from the scene.
The scam artist got the shock of his life when he turned up confidently to carry out another fraudulent transaction expecting to receive liquid cash. Instead, he found himself in handcuffs, being whisked away to the police station.
Sources say the con artist whose aliases include “Yusuf Stuart” and “James Stuart” was wanted by the police for a variety of scams involving illegal sales of land, carried out in the last year – the most recent being the sale of a house lot to a woman for a total of $3M.
Police have identified the suspect as 48-year-old John Stewart of Heath Street, Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara.
Kaieteur News understands that the man sold the land to the woman under the name ‘Yusuf Stuart.’ Posing as a representative of the Lands and Surveys Commission, he reportedly informed the victim that he had land to sell in Kuru Kuru.
After paying for the land in full, the woman then visited the Lands and Surveys Commission and received the shock of her life when she was informed that there was no such land that was sold in the area.
The victim then reported the matter to the police and a sting operation went into full swing.
As part of the operation yesterday, an investigator pretended to be a potential buyer of land worth $600,000 for agricultural uses.
As was planned, the officer waited patiently along with another officer for the swindler to turn up at the Maraj building where the deal was to take place, all the time keeping in contact with the fraudster. His most recent victim, the woman whom he had sold the land to, was not far off waiting to identify him.
The trickster soon turned up casually dressed in a yellow T-Shirt, blue jeans, and sporting a black cap, ready to carry out another hoax.
He calmly introduced himself to his “potential client” as James Stuart, shook hands and invited him (the police officer) upstairs to begin the transaction.
However, as soon as the ‘quack’ turned his back to go upstairs, the law enforcement officers grabbed his hands and slapped a pair of handcuffs on them.
The scam artist’s face registered horror and dismay when he realized that he had been given a taste of his own medicine and had been beaten at his own game by the police.
When asked if he had known why he was being arrested, Stuart serenely answered, “I don’t know why they arrested me. A chap was supposed to buy some land from me to plant rice and that was it”.
He is adamant that he had the lease for the land which he was about to sell.
When confronted by the woman to whom he had sold the illegal $3M plot of land, and asked by the police if he knew her, the impostor said, “Oh, Sonia, yes, I know her very well”.
Stuart was then taken to the Lands and Survey Commission where it was confirmed that he had no affiliation with the agency before he was duly hauled off to the lock ups. In recent times several land scams have been uncovered with victims being fleeced of millions of dollars.
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