Latest update April 18th, 2025 8:12 AM
Bound body in sand pit…Deportee held as cops link killing to drug deal
Investigators have finally arrested a deportee, who had been on the run since the battered body of 28-year-old fisherman Levan Chanderpaul was found in a sand-pit at the Number 68 Village, Corentyne on August 24, 2016.
The suspect, who ran and left his car behind in 2016 when detectives approached him for questioning, was arrested last week. He is presently being questioned at Criminal Investigation Department headquarters, Eve Leary. The detained man is said to be a drug dealer.
Five other persons were also questioned but have since been released.
According to information received, the 28-year-old fisherman was last seen entering the deportee’s vehicle.
The next time he was seen was when his body was found in a sandpit a short distance from his home.
Dead: 28-year-old Levan Chanderpaul
His hands were bound behind his back and he was clad in only his underwear.
A post mortem examination revealed that the victim died from shock and hemorrhage and that his skull was fractured.
Yesterday, a source close to the investigation said that the drug dealer, who was deported from Canada in 2009, after slashing a woman’s neck, has denied harming Chanderpaul, while claiming that the fisherman was his friend.
However, there are reports that detectives have gathered enough evidence to charge him with murder.
It is believed that the killing stemmed from a drug deal between the victim and suspect early last year.
According to information received, the deportee gave Chanderpaul money to purchase drugs but the fisherman failed to do so; instead took the money and left the village.
He reportedly returned after some months and the two men made contact.
Shortly after, the fisherman’s battered body was found in the sandpit. When police in Berbice approached the deportee to question him, he ran away, leaving his vehicle behind, which is currently at the Skeldon Police Station.
Ranks in Georgetown received information that the prime suspect in the fisherman’s murder was still living at the Number 68 Village and arrested him last week.
Chanderpaul mother, Mala had explained that her son had lived with her and his father, Kushipaul at their Lot 116 Number 68 Village residence.
She said that he left home on August 22, 2016, and promised to return within two hours. His partly decomposed body was subsequently found.
When the discovery was made, investigators had speculated that the fisherman was beaten elsewhere and his body dumped in the pit, since they found no signs of blood or evidence of a struggle near the sandpit.
Chanderpaul was well known in the community and was charged numerous times with various offences, including piracy.
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