Two cars stolen in three days

Aug 08, 2022 News

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– Police recover one stripped at Success, ECD

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – Two silver-grey Toyota Premio motorcars, one belonging to Kaieteur News and another to a CANU officer, were stolen at separate locations across the coast of Guyana within three days.

The CANU’s officer’s car was the first to be stolen on Friday July 29 last in front of his home at Unity on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). Two days later around 02:00hrs on July 31, Kaieteur News’ car, PPP 8195 disappeared from in front of one of its employee’s home at Crane on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD).

As police investigators try their best to track the suspects via leads, they have managed to recover one of the stolen cars on Thursday, stripped of its music set and other parts at Success on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD). The recovered car was positively identified to be the one stolen from the CANU officer.

Speaking with the Kaieteur News, the officer (name provided) said that he had parked his vehicle in front of his home around 22:00hrs that evening and went to bed. He woke up around 04:00hrs the following morning and found his car missing. The officer lodged a report with police and almost six days later, investigators were able to locate his car but it was stripped of its parts.

Kaieteur News was told that the thieves had removed the music system valued at $700,000. They even removed the bumper, mirrors and other expensive parts. The car’s licence plate was also removed and replaced with one marked “On test”. Investigators believe that thieves did this to make it look as though they had just bought the car so they can drive around freely without being stopped by a police officer. It is suspected too that they were able to remove the car from the CANU officer’s home with the use a “flat point” screw driver. So far, investigators are clueless about perpetrators.

However, their investigation had led them to search a home at Le Souvenir, after they were tipped off that the owner is an auto dealer that sells spares and had expressed interest buying a car recently. Ranks searched the premises and had found some old car parts lying around but there was none that belonged to the recovered stolen car.

The owner of the home related to this newspaper that she knows nothing about the stolen car. She even claimed that she is not in the business of selling car parts anymore and now runs a plant shop. The woman further stated that even if she was still selling car parts, it won’t be stolen ones because she is an honest businesswoman.

In the meantime, as investigation continues, police are also hoping to recover the second stolen car that belongs to Kaieteur News. Footage seen by this media house captured some men dismantling the car before removing it from in front of the Kaieteur News’ employee’s home. Anyone who might have seen the missing car bearing licence plate PPP 8195 or knows where it might be, is asked to report to the nearest police station. It should be noted that these two cars are not the only ones that have been stolen in the last few months.

The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), in January this year had cracked down on one of the gangs that have been stealing cars in the city for quite a while. SOCU’s operation had led its investigators to recover two stolen cars at a workshop at Montrose, ECD and arrested a number of individuals suspected to be part of the gang.

Among those who were arrested was the workshop owner, Ravin Singh and a prominent auto dealer, Andrew Archibald Samaroo. Samaroo had turned himself in to police after a wanted bulletin was issued for him.

Samaroo, Singh and another man, Leon Lewis were charged in February, for stealing the cars recovered by SOCU and that matter is currently before the court. Singh and Samaroo are presently out on bail. Lewis was placed behind bars on remand but this newspaper is unsure if he was able to obtain bail at a subsequent court hearing.

According to reports, the men are accused of being a part of a gang that would legally purchase cars that were destroyed in road accidents.

The gang would store these vehicles and then send out its members to hijack or steal one similar to the “crashed cars”, they had bought.
The stolen cars would then be taken to a workshop where mechanics are tasked to make them look like the legally purchased “crashed cars”. Mechanics would remove parts and the engine numbers from legally purchased cars and place them on the stolen ones before they are resold to unsuspecting buyers. The parts removed from stolen cars would then be resold in the local market as spares. With this style operation, the gang is able to operate un-detected for years because all their paper work for the vehicles they sold are legal and it was difficult for law enforcement officers to track them down. Nevertheless, recent developments have allowed SOCU to make a major breakthrough in its bid to dismantle the gang but carjacking operations in the country continue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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