‘Paper Shorts’ murder probe… Richmond, two others released on $1M bail each

Jul 15, 2026 News

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(Kaieteur News) – Three men detained in connection with the ongoing investigation into the high-profile March 2021 execution-style murder of Ricardo Fagundes, popularly known as ‘Paper Shorts’ have been released on $1 million station bail each.

The suspects, former manager at Mohamed’s Security Udoh Kanu, auto sales dealer Amarnauth Ramsook, and Mark Richmond, a former security guard, were released from police custody following days of detention. Richmond, who had been held since Wednesday, July 8, was represented by Attorney-at-Law Damien DaSilva. Kanu was represented by prominent attorney Nigel Hughes.

High Drama at Police Headquarters

Family members of Richmond expressed relief outside police headquarters following his release. Speaking to the media, Richmond’s sisters described what they termed “distraction tactics” by the police during the release process. According to his family, Richmond was initially kept at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary. After instructing his family that investigators required his passport, police officers reportedly moved him to the Regional Division 4 “A” Police Headquarters in what his sisters claimed was an attempt to bypass waiting media personnel.

“They just brought him here and dropped him off as a distraction to avoid the media,” Richmond’s sisters who were in tears told members of the press. “We are so happy …we were praying all the time!”

The release of the three men is the latest development in a five-year-old case that continues to shake Guyana. On a night in March 2021, Ricardo Fagundes was shot more than 20 times moments after stepping out of the Palm Court nightclub on Main Street, Georgetown. Two gunmen emerged from the back of a heavily tinted white Toyota Fielder wagon to execute the hit. The getaway vehicle was later found burnt along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Opposition Leader alleges political witch hunt

Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed, who previously employed Richmond and Kanu released a series of videos on his “Team Mohamed’s” Facebook page, claiming the sudden reactivation of the murder probe is a politically motivated fabrication orchestrated by the state.

Mohamed alleged that President Irfaan Ali instructed Deputy Crime Chief Mitchell Caesar to reopen the unsolved investigation as political retaliation. “I discovered and exposed President [Ali’s] 150-acre megafarm, worth more than $5 billion,” Mohamed claimed in his address. “This exposure has thrown the President into a state of desperation and panic… causing him to manufacture total fabrications… and attempt to manipulate the system.”

Alleged coercion of auto dealer

A central element of Mohamed’s defense rests on allegations surrounding Amarnauth Ramsook, the auto dealer. Mohamed claimed the police tried to coerce Ramsook into changing his previous statement to implicate Richmond as the purchaser of the white Toyota Fielder used in the execution.

According to Mohamed, Ramsook had already provided official transaction documents to investigators in July 2025 showing the vehicle was sold to Shemroy Omar Stewart, whom Mohamed identified as a security guard and close associate of convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan. Mohamed also released an audio recording allegedly of Ramsook’s son, Dwight Dodson, claiming that CID officers and a senior Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) official pressured Ramsook to sign a false statement to connect Richmond to the car. Efforts made to contact the named official for a comment was futile.

RSS report clears police of cover-up allegations

Following external whistleblowing allegations made by Police Sergeant Dion Bascom, who claimed a high-level police cover-up in the Fagundes murder, the Government of Guyana had requested investigative assistance from the RSS. A former Detective Chief Inspector from the UK’s Metropolitan Police was deployed to review the case files.

The RSS report, published on The Ministry of Home Affairs’ website on 9^th September, 2022, concluded that there was no evidence of corrupt practices or cover-up efforts by Detective Superintendent Mitchell Caesar or other investigators and that the bribery allegations raised by Sgt. Bascom were determined to be “hearsay having no provenance.”

The RSS review highlighted that a close associate of Fagundes, who was present on the night of the murder, gave highly inaccurate statements to investigators. Closed CCTV footage contradicted his claims regarding who was driving the vehicle and omitted the presence of a third occupant in their car.

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• investigation, murder probe, Paper Shorts, Ricardo Fagundes

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