Persons brought before the court for dramatic robberies

Sep 25, 2022 News

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==The Court Journal==

 By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Recently making headlines are the $13 million robbery at the Giftland Mall and the theft of $400 million in gold bars from a Mahaica, East Coast Demerara home. Charges were brought against multiple defendants in the matters and they were remanded to prison.

On Tuesday, last, a construction worker was jailed while another was remanded for reportedly stealing some $400 million in gold bars from a female gold dealer.

Bhaloonauth Seegobin called ‘Krishna’, a 49 year-old contractor of Lot 13 Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD) and his son Satrohan Seegobin called ‘Richie’, a 24-year-old construction worker of the same address, made their appearance at the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Fabayo Azore.

Satrohan pleaded guilty to the charge which stated that he and his father allegedly stole 1,000 ounces of raw gold from a female gold dealer at Mahaica, ECD, sometime between December 2021 and January 2022.

Magistrate Azore sentenced Satrohan to four years in prison for the offence, whereas Bhaloonauth was remanded after he denied the charge. Bhaloonauth is expected to make his next court appearance on November 1, 2022.

The father and son duo, according to reports, was undertaking some repairs on the female gold dealer’s house when they found the gold bars and decided to steal them.

Investigators were able to track them down because they had reportedly gone on a spending spree after the theft.

As police continue their investigation into the multi-million-dollar gold robbery, detectives believe that more individuals are involved.

On Tuesday last too, another suspect was arrested and police were able to recover some $6 million in cash – cash suspected to have been received from the sale of some of the gold bars – and two cars believed to have been purchased with the said cash.

In total, police were able to seize a washing machine, a gas stove, tea sets, two carpets, a seven-piece dining set, six boxes of tiles, one 12 amp skill saw, a wheelbarrow, a 25-inch television set, a spade and a music set. Among the seized vehicles seized too are four fielder wagons – two black and two white; a blue canter truck and one white Axio motorcar.

Notably, on Friday, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) issued three wanted bulletins for other suspects in relation to the said crime.  The three wanted persons are: Damien Brummell, 51, of Lot 36 La Grange, West Bank Demerara (WBD) or Lot 29 New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara (WCD), Andray Duncan called Junior, 27, of Lot 718 Kaneville, Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD), and Mark Singh also known as ‘Poppy’, 22, of Lot 522 Herstelling, EBD.

A week before the theft of the $400 million gold heist – six persons were charged for the $13.4 million robbery at a GTT store located in the Giftland Mall.

On September 15, Andrea Dover, 25, a cleaner of Lot 616 D Field Sophia; Priecy Roberts, 30, a businessman of  Lot 22 Tucville, Georgetown; Ashley Mansfield,  27, a cleaner of  Lot 100 Victoria Road,  Plaisance,  East Coast Demerara; Jamal Haley, 24, a labourer of Lot 461 D Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown; Ryan Goodluck, 24, of Lot 928 Herstelling Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, and Osman Brummell, 39, a vendor of Lot 63 Cross Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown, all made their first court appearance.

They defendants appeared in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Alicia George. They pleaded not guilty to the charge and were remanded to prison. The matter was adjourned to October 26, 2022.

It was reported that two gunmen posing as security guards from the Amalgamated Security Services Limited (ASSL) had entered the Giftland Mall around 21:45hrs on September 8, 2022, and robbed the GTT Store located on the second floor of $13.4M in cash and $6M in cheques.

The Mall was closed at the time and no one suspected that they were bandits because ASSL is the company that would normally conduct GTT’s Cash-in-Transit Services – uplift cash after the store ends its operation for the day and deposits same into a bank.

Police were able to crack the case in a matter of days after tracking down the getaway car used in the robbery–a white old model Toyota Raum. Detectives were able to ascertain that the car belonged to Roberts, and they located him and at the time of his arrest, the car was black and white.

During interrogation, Roberts, according to police, admitted to being the getaway driver on the night of the robbery. He said the car was entirely white when the crime was committed because he had used white wrap to cover the black colour on the bonnet and the top.

It was reported that Roberts then led police to his home where he gave them cash amounting to $500,000, half of the total share that he had received from his participation in the multi-million dollar heist. When asked what he did with the other half, he said that he had purchased some clothes for himself and paid off his mother’s medical bills.

Police retrieved the clothes as part of their evidence and continued their investigation and it led them to detaining Andrea Dover, a cleaner employed at the Giftland Mall’s GTT branch. She confessed that she was the one who had set-up the robbery but was not the mastermind.

She told police the mastermind was Jamal Haley called “Biggs” and reportedly said that he was the one who had approached her to plan the robbery.  Dover’s job, this publication was informed, was to give Haley key details about the movements of cash from GTT, including the security company that uplifted it and the time of pick-ups. She was also tasked with identifying all the entrance and exit points of the building.

For her role, the bandits paid her $800,000 and that cash, she said, was given to her sister for safe keeping. Police contacted the sister and found the money stashed in a fowl pen in her back yard.

On September 11, last, police located the residence of Biggs at Victoria Road, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara (ECD) but he was not at home. They, however, detained his girlfriend who was there and she told them that indeed he was involved in the robbery. The girlfriend recalled him arriving home with “a lot of cash” and when she asked him where he got it from, he confessed to her that it was from the robbery at Giftland and it was for her.

While police continued their search for Biggs, they found his alleged accomplice, Ryan Goodluck, at Barr Street, Kitty and arrested him. He denied that he was part of the robbery. However, police found a total of $286,420 in cash in his possession. After his arrest, it did not take detectives long to locate Biggs. They arrested him at Cummings Lodge, ECD and he reportedly confessed too. He even handed over a total of $1.1M to police which he had given to a bus driver for safe keeping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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