7 in custody for Corentyne phone card dealer robbery/murder
– Police recover gun, phone cards
At least seven persons were arrested following the fatal shooting of a Corentyne cellular phone card dealer during a robbery on Wednesday afternoon, as investigators in B Division (Berbice) recovered what was suspected to be the
The weapon found stashed at the suspects’ home
murder weapon and getaway car.
Danian Jagdeo, 36, of Lot 12 Section G, Kings Street, Williamsburg, Corentyne, was shot at least three times at Adventure, Corentyne, while at a shop. The lone shooter then grabbed Jagdeo’s bag, containing an undisclosed sum of cash and a quantity of phone cards, before escaping on a motorcycle along with a waiting accomplice.
A post-mortem conducted on the body Thursday gave the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot injuries.
Police have since been able to arrest seven persons (aged 18 to 34) during a 12-hour search along the Corentyne.
<<<Guyana Times>>> understands that a search of one of the suspects’ homes revealed a small calibre weapon and two matching rounds. A motor car, bearing registration number PVV 9465, fitting the description of the vehicle allegedly used after the crime was also impounded.
Moreover, the motorcycle that was abandoned by the suspects has been identified by a Corentyne resident, who alleged that it was stolen from his yard on February 2.
Divisional Commander, Assistant Commissioner Ian Amsterdam told this newspaper that detectives started making arrests from as early at 19:00h on Wednesday and were satisfied by 07:00h the following morning, when the alleged murder weapon was found.
“We were able to get the person that was sent to get the gasoline for the motorcycle, then we were able to get the person who made the false plates for the motorbike and we were also able to get the person who had the motorcycle.”
The Commander further explained that one of the persons who were arrested provided vital information based on what he heard others discussing. “He heard who were the persons planning the act. We eventually arrested all those persons. What the informant would have also heard is where the weapon was stashed before the robbery and so after we had all the players in custody, we took one of the persons in custody back to the residence, where the weapon was stashed before the robbery; we went back and found it there. We have to do ballistics tests and we have at least three warheads. It was a .32 snub-nose revolver,” Amsterdam disclosed.
However, he continued that “while we know that two persons were involved; we also have the driver of the car who would have been the person to have picked up and dropped off”.
Commander Amsterdam added too that investigators were able to prove that the car had been trailing Jagdeo at Corriverton. This, he said, was gathered from surveillance footage obtained from a store in Corriverton into which Jagdeo went.
After trailing Jagdeo for some time, the men went to Friendship and waited. “Residents in the village saw them in the car and on the motorbike lurking around in the village,” Amsterdam noted. “All these pieces we are now putting together in respect to that robbery-murder.”
Meanwhile, members of the Major Crime Unit (MCU) will no longer be travelling to Berbice as planned in light of this breakthrough in the case.
However, the Divisional Commander noted that the Berbice team was still being advised on the way forward. According to Amsterdam, while the MCU will no longer be taking over the investigation, the Commissioner will instead be advising on the case as investigations continue.
Following an execution at Tain Settlement, Corentyne on Tuesday night and Wednesday’s robbery/murder, members of the MCU were scheduled to visit the crime scenes on Thursday morning.
