PPP would have recruited these criminals to become bodyguards for Ramotar and sooba.
Vlissengen Road shooting…Cops confident perpetrators in custody
- Crime Chief lauds detectives
Police are confident that they now have the shooter as well as his accomplice in connection with Monday’s brazen killing of dredge owner Ashook Ragghu and the wounding of his wife.
A senior police official told Kaieteur News yesterday that a man they had detained shortly after Ragghu’s murder has confessed to being involved in that robbery. But the suspect claimed that an accomplice, whom he identified, pulled the trigger.
“Both are in custody; the guy we had (first) confessed and fingered the shooter, and we caught the shooter,” the official told Kaieteur News.
The alleged shooter is an East Ruimveldt man who was previously detained for armed robbery. He was reportedly deported from Antigua in 2012 for overstaying and also for a drug-related charge.
Kaieteur News was told that detectives also have an unlicenced firearm that they believe was used in the slaying. Police suspect that the dredge owner and his wife were shot with a .32 revolver.
Key to the case is a post mortem which is likely to be performed today.
Police were reportedly able to crack the case because the killers were not wearing helmets at the time and Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the area gave investigators “very good” images of the suspects.
Crime Chief Leslie James yesterday lauded his ranks for their work on the case and also for their success in solving a number of recent murders.
“I’m happy that persons who are prone to such crimes would not be on the road for some time. Our general approach has been to capture the people who commit such crimes and get them before the courts,” The Crime Chief said.
“I need the nation to understand that the Guyana Police Force, especially the CID, is dealing with serious crimes frontally. Almost all serious crimes committed recently have been solved.”
Ragghu, of Pike Street, Campbellville, was shot in the chest, while his wife, Shyrazadi Ragghu, was shot in the thigh, at around 14:40 hrs on Monday, after two gunmen on a motorcycle cornered them at the Vlissengen and Regent Road traffic light.
The robbers escaped with a bag containing an undisclosed sum of cash and the slain man’s licenced handgun.
Mr. Ragghu operated a gold mining operation at Arimu Backdam, Cuyuni, and the family recently moved from Berbice to Georgetown.
According to reports, Ragghu had picked up his wife from a city bank and was heading south along Vlissengen Road at around 13:40 hrs on Monday when they were forced to stop at the traffic light near the Botanical Gardens.
The gunmen then rode up to the couple’s Toyota Carina, PGG 8291 and tried to relieve the businessman of his money.
One of the robbers then shot Mr. Ragghu when he resisted.
The businessman was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
