Slain ex-cop was dismissed for stealing gold jewellery from robbery suspect

Feb 18, 2015 News

– was before court for gun possession

By Michael Jordan
Slain bus driver and ex-cop Beepat Taijram was kicked out of the Force in 2012 for his involvement in a robbery, and he was still attending court on a weapons charge at the time of his death.

Beepat Taijram

But police do not believe that his murder last Monday at the hands of two young gunmen is linked in any way to his unsavoury past, and are treating the case as a robbery.
His killers were still at large yesterday, but police are said to be following leads that could result in arrests shortly.
Kaieteur News confirmed that on February 12, 2012, Taijram, then a police constable, and two of his colleagues, Lance Corporal Shandel Costello, and Constable Delon Lyken, were sent to Lodge Housing Scheme to arrest Leon Daniels, a suspect in the robbery of $8M in cash and jewellery from an Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara goldsmith.
Instead of arresting Daniels, the policemen allegedly robbed him of $600,000 and a quantity of jewellery.
The ranks were dismissed and charged with robbery.
A senior police official also revealed that Taijram was recently charged with possession of an unlicenced firearm at Linden. That case was still being heard in court when Taijram was slain.
The 28-year-old Taijram, called “Biggs,” of Albouys Street, Albouystown, was shot dead at around 15.00 hrs on Monday after stopping his bus near Campbell Street, Grove, on the East Bank Demerara public road.
He was attacked by two young men who had boarded his bus, BJJ 7673, at the Georgetown bus park and tried to relieve Taijram of his jewellery when he stopped near Campbell Street.
“Beepat Taijram resisted and managed to exit his vehicle where he was shot several times.
“The men then took away his gold jewellery and managed to escape, despite efforts by a member of the Guyana Defence Force who was in the vicinity and had discharged rounds in their direction,” a police release stated.

Footwear left by one of the Taijram’s killers

“Beepat Taijram was taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was pronounced dead on arrival.”
Kaieteur News was told that when the bus reached Campbell Street, Grove, only a female passenger, the conductor and the two robbers remained in the vehicle.
The gunmen reportedly then asked Taijram to stop. The minibus conductor alleged that it was then that one of the ‘passengers’ pointed a handgun at Taijram’s head and told him to “pass” the chain.
It is alleged that the gunman then shot Taijram, who scrambled out of his seat and began to run north up the public road. Kaieteur News was told that the second gunman, who was already outside the vehicle, gave chase and pumped at least three bullets into the fleeing driver’s back.
Taijram collapsed on the roadway and the gunman reportedly tried to shoot him again, before casually removing the driver’s chain.
The brazen robbery was observed by a group of soldiers who had stopped their vehicle nearby.
One of the ranks shot at Taijram’s attackers, but the fleet-footed bandits escaped unharmed, leaving their footwear and a hat behind.
The slain man’s reputed wife, Romene Ankase, said that her husband habitually wore expensive pieces of gold jewellery, including his chain, a band and two large gold rings.