As fast as police close one down another pop up. This is just a publicity stunt by the Granger administration, they deep in with the drug lords, giving them a free pass with the white stuff and making a show of burning ganja.

A QUARTER- ACRE plot of cultivated cannabis, a make-shift camp and a quantity of dried cannabis were destroyed by fire during a joint operation in Region Seven on Saturday.

The police in a statement said no one has been arrested and a live 12-gauge cartridge and an identification card which were found in the camp have been lodged.

The operation was organised on the basis of intelligence gathered and about 11:00hrs on Saturday, the team (policemen and soldiers) ascended on Arou Mountain Top and successfully executed their plan, the release said.

Bath family beaten, robbed; cars torched in bandit attack

May 30, 2017 News 0 Comments

The police are investigating the circumstances surrounding an incident in which a five-member family of Bath, West Coast Berbice, was on Sunday night beaten and robbed by three gunmen, and two motor cars in proximity were torched.
According to the female shop owner (who asked not to be named), she operates a grocery store and beer garden on her premises, and was in the shop around 22:00hrs (10pm), attending to two patrons. Her husband was at the time in the inner portion of the building sorting some bills to be dealt with the following day, while her two teenage daughters were watching television and six-year-old son was asleep.
It was then that three men armed with handguns entered the premises and began beating the two patrons.
After assaulting the patrons, two of the men proceeded to force their way into the dwelling via a side door, while the third man kept guard over the two patrons who were huddled in a corner. The men brutally assaulted the woman’s husband and two daughters before forcing them to lie on the floor and demanding that they remain quiet.
Amid threats to the woman, the men demanded money, telling her that they had information on her, and that she must hand over all the gold and money she had. All she could do was plead with the men and watch them ransack the shop.
The men eventually stumbled upon sixty thousand dollars in cash which she had in a purse, and they took away an undisclosed sum from the drawer where cash is normally kept.
The men also relieved each family member of whatever jewellery they were wearing, as well as five cellular phones.
According to the traumatized shopkeeper, everything happened very quickly, and the men left after spending less than fifteen minutes on the property.
The youngest of the family, the six year old boy, has been left traumatized by the ordeal, the shop owner said.
While the victims are happy to have escaped serious injuries, one of the patrons can count himself as being very unfortunate. Not only did the robbers use his car in their escape bid, the car was taken into the Hopetown cemetery and set alight. The burnt-out car was discovered early Monday morning with documents nearby conforming ownership.
When the police responded to the report of the robbery on Sunday night, they were on time to witness a car on fire a short distance away from where the robbery was committed, and it is believed that the gunmen may have used that car to get to their objective, and then set it on fire having accomplished their mission.
The police are continuing their investigations.

Decrease in crime due to multiple approaches by police – Ramjattan

Jun 02, 2017 News 0 Comments

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, believes that the decrease in crime is as a result of three approaches adopted by the Guyana Police Force. The force has and continues to strengthen the approaches.

Public Security Minister Kemraj Ramjattan

Ramjattan said that increased community confidence in the work of the force, coupled with a greater focus on professionalism within the organization, and the providence of adequate resources to assist the force to fulfill its mandate is key to recent gains.
It was revealed recently, that for the period January 1 to May 12, last, 41 persons were victims of homicide, as compared to 55 for the same period in 2016. Comparatively, this translates to a 25 percent reduction, or 14 fewer victims for this year, when compared to the previous year, 2016.
“Further, the statistics indicate a clearance rate for homicides for the year 2017 is at an all-time high which is 83 percent. This means that 83 percent of the murder reports received for the year were solved by the Guyana Police Force.
At the beginning of the APNU+AFC government’s tenure in office crime was one of the ‘troublesome’ issue that had to be addressed. Many had even called for the removal of Ramjattan but he was adamant that the force has a plan to arrest the situation.

Community Confidence in Police
In a very candid interview Ramjattan said that while crime is continuously decreasing much more needs to be done in fighting crime. That aside, Ramjattan said that communities across the country have shown greater confidence in the police so information gathering which is critical to fighting crime is much better.
He said that it is no secret that in times past, persons were apprehensive about giving information to the police but this has changed. As a matter of fact, the AFC member said that communities are assisting the police by letting them know who is about to commit a crime or who has committed a particular crime.
And it is collaborative work like that is assisting the police in apprehending many criminals. Additionally, Ramjattan explained that the leadership of the force has been critical in augmenting the gains the force has made so far.
He said it was important that the police are allowed to do their work without any interference for anyone let alone the government. He said that since becoming Minister he has made it his duty not to micromanage the police force.
Ramjattan said that the law enforcement body has enough capable and qualified individuals to do its work therefore there is no need for interference.

Police Professionalism
An issue that has been a ‘thorn’ in the side of this and previous governments is the professionalism or the lack of it, by some police officers. Ramjattan said that he is taking a ‘no nonsense’ approach in this regard.
The Public Security Minister said that rogue cops will be dealt with swiftly and condignly since there is no place in the police force for such officials.
He said that there will be no leniency in dealing with corrupt police officers, “if they want to take bride, we will catch them in sting operations”. Ramjattan said that police officers who have a penchant for collecting a ‘raise’ should know by now that they run the risk of being interdicted from the force for such behaviour.
There is also a more serious risk of them being placed before the court for such practices. Ramjattan said that ‘every single’ complaint made against police officers will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).

Additional Resources
Another critical area according to Ramjattan is the amount of money being expended to ensure that police officers are properly trained and have the necessary resources to do their work.
He said that to date more than 200 police officers have benefited from overseas training to ensure that the force is on par with what obtains internationally. He said that Government has been supporting these training and will continue to do so.
On top of that, Ramjattan said that modern vehicles and weaponry have also assisted in this area.
He said that while the direction in which the police force finds itself is commendable, there are some issues that are still of concern to him and are being addressed.
One area that continues to be of concern to the authorities is the Stabroek Market Square. He said that plans are in train to place a number of additional close circuit television cameras (CCTV) in that area.
Ramjattan explained that once the funds become available, from the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) that government has approached, those cameras will soon be installed.
In the meantime, he is advising the citizenry to wear very little gold and other jewelry and to do more cheque transactions and avoid moving around with lots of cash.

Bandits shoot woman in stomach in attempt to steal car

Jun 05, 2017 News 0 Comments

– attack occurred near police station

Police were last night trying to track down two bandits who shot a 44-year-old woman in the stomach outside her residence at Lot 2, Victoria Road, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
The attack occurred at around 22.00hrs, about six houses away from the Sparendaam Police Station.
The victim was identified as Jewel Gibson. She is reportedly employed as a librarian with the Guyana Defence Force.
The robbers made off with Gibson’s cell phone, house keys, and the keys for the Toyota Premio she was driving. The victim was also wearing a gold chain, but an associate of Gibson’s was unable to say whether this was stolen.
A woman who lives at the same premises as the victim said that Gibson had just arrived home and had turned into the driveway when she was attacked.
The woman said she was inside when she heard “a popping sound.” She then heard Gibson screaming, and on looking outside, saw a man “leaning into” Gibson’s vehicle. The woman said that she alerted her husband, who went outside. However, by then, the robber and an accomplice had fled.
The tenant and her husband took Gibson to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). She was said to be conscious and her condition is stable. Kaieteur News understands that the bullet exited through Gibson’s side.
The tenant believes that the robbers had intended to make off with Gibson’s car, which she only acquired a few months ago.

Businessman found dead with gunshot wound

Jun 05, 2017 News 0 Comments

– suicide suspected

A 59-year-old saw-miller was found dead in his Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara yard at around 06.00hrs yesterday with a gunshot around to his head.
‘A’ Division Commander Marlon Chapman gave the victim’s name as Praboo Persaud.
According to Chapman, Persaud’s wife returned from an errand to find that her husband was not at home.
She decided to scour the exterior of the premises and that was when she made a rather gruesome discovery.
Kaieteur News has learnt that upon checking at the back of the yard, the man’s wife found Persaud lying on his back in a cot with a gunshot wound to the head and his licensed .32 handgun nearby.
This newspaper was informed that Persaud was dealing with mental health issues and was undergoing counseling. He was scheduled to attend a clinic sometime this week.
According to reports, Persaud, who owned a sawmill and worked in the interior, had asked his wife to go out and instructed her that upon her return “she should walk with somebody.”
The wife, accompanied by a maid, eventually returned, but could not find Persaud in the house. She then looked outside and saw her husband’s body.
At the Nandy Park residence, relatives were reluctant to speak, as they gathered to console the man’s grief stricken wife and son.

Young bandits killing victims for gold jewellery a worrying trend

Jun 05, 2017 News 0 Comments

– senior police official

Police say they have observed what appears to be an emerging trend in which criminals are killing their victims for their gold jewellery.
“The perpetrators are very young persons, and the confessions we get are almost identical, in that the suspects had their victims under surveillance prior to committing the act,” a senior police rank said.
“More noteworthy is the fact that they targeted the victims for their gold jewellery and they were brutally murdered. The impression imposed by the suspects is that they are determined to get your property ‘by any means necessary.’ In one case, the suspects confessed that they had earlier observed the victim wearing several pieces of gold jewellery. Hence they hatched a plan to rob him at his residence, and in the process he was shot and killed.”
The official also identified Haymant Persaud, the brother of Commissioner of Police, Seelalal Persaud, as a victim of robbers who were prepared to kill their target for his jewellery.

Murdered for his jewellery: Andre Alexander

Murdered for his gold chain: Beepat Taijram

Haymant Persaud, of Affiance, Essequibo Coast, was stabbed to death on February 19, allegedly by a 15-year-old, who relieved him of his gold chain before making good his escape in a bus. The suspect has been charged.
An even more recent target was Sophia bread vendor Andre Alexander, who was shot dead on May 5 by bandits at ‘C’ Field Sophia, Georgetown.
“He was observed wearing three gold rings…and like the other victims, he was targeted and killed in the process,” the police official said.
Police have charged two suspects with Alexander’s murder.
There are others.
On July 29, 2014, Bernadette Campbell, known for wearing lots of gold jewellery, was sitting in the front seat of a Plaisance-bound bus, when a passenger shot her in the stomach and stripped her of her jewellery.
Campbell succumbed almost three months after the attack.
In February, 2015, minibus driver and ex-policeman Beepat Taijram, 28, known as “Biggs,” was driving in the vicinity of Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara, when he was shot dead and robbed of his gold chain by two passengers.

Masked men break 12 stalls at Mon Repos Market

Jun 08, 2017 News 0 Comments

A section of the Mon Repos market

Three men were captured on surveillance camera breaking into at least 12 stalls at the Mon Repos Market, East Coast Demerara (ECD) yesterday morning.
The men wore jerseys to conceal their faces. One wore a motorcycle helmet. The suspects appeared to be in their early 20s.
In the footage, one of the men can be seen walking with a nipper in his band and cutting padlocks on one of the stalls’ doors.
They escaped with pharmaceutical, condoms, a computer, cash, fan, GPL’s prepaid meter among other items. The break-in occurred around 01:00 hr yesterday.
One stall owner, Sabita Luknauth said that the men gained entry into her saloon by breaking the padlock.
They escaped with her blow dryer, fan and other items.
The owner for the Pharmacy who identified herself as Dr. Christine said that the men took cough medicine and other medication. She said at least every year stalls are being broken and nothing is being done to prevent such incidents.
At the time of the robbery, two security guards were on duty and none of them heard anything. No patrol was done, also, based on surveillance footage.
The Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC)’s chairman, Ayube Mohamed said that there will be a meeting shortly where a number of issues will be addressed including the security of the market.
He said that the NDC cannot employ a security firm to monitor the market because some stall owners are paying as little as $60 a week.

Taxi driver rob, dumped from car

Jun 08, 2017 News 0 Comments

A 46-year-old taxi driver was robbed and thrown out of his own car by three armed bandits in broad daylight, Tuesday.
The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Graham’s Hall Church, Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD) around 15:10 hrs.
The victim has been identified as Bernard Persaud of Lot 34 Owen Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
According to information received, three men hired Persaud from in front of Demico House, Stabroek Market and requested to be taken to Cummings Lodge.
Just before reaching their drop off point, all three men reportedly pulled out a gun and robbed the taxi driver before pushing him out of his HC7861, a yellow Toyota Premio. A police source said that the carjackers then drove off and headed up East Coast Demerara using the railway embankment.
It is believed that the carjackers might have been from Berbice based on the way they spoke.
With this information, road blocks were set up along the East Coast Tuesday afternoon but ranks were unable to locate the vehicle.
Residents in the area where the incident happened said that the area is isolated and a lot of crimes occur there. There is the Graham’s Hall Primary School, a church and the cemetery.
“There is a road that leads from the East Coast main road to railway embankment and it’s very lonely because the cemetery is there.
If anyone walks there, they get robbed,” a resident said.  It was in that very same area – in the cemetery – workers attached to the Ministry of Public Works discovered the decomposed body of Georgetown businessman, Mohamed F. Khan in October 2014.

Gunmen on bikes snatch company payroll

Jun 09, 2017 News 0 Comments

-use car to block roadway
In a brazen robbery at around 15.00 hrs yesterday, gunmen on motorcycles and in a car escaped with a $910,000 payroll after holding up a security vehicle near Farm, on the East Bank of Demerara.
According to reports, the victims were heading to Houston, East Bank Demerara, to cash for workers when a car blocked their path.
It is alleged that two motorcyclists then went to opposite sides of the vehicle transporting the payroll. One of the bikers then discharged a round from a handgun and forced the occupants to hand over the money-bag.
The robbers then escaped.
A police official was unable to confirm whether investigators have detained a suspect.

Cops probe two suspected murders…Bound body of male found in bush – Woman with battered face discovered in rice field

Jun 14, 2017 News 0 Comments

Investigators are probing two suspected cases of murder—one involving the bound body of a

Items that were found next to the female victim.

man and the other being that of a woman whose face had been battered and her body dumped in a rice field at New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara.Around 10:52 hrs on Monday the decomposed body of a male was found in the bush at Long Creek, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, while the woman’s body was discovered around 07:30 hrs yesterday.

Investigators suspect that the two victims might have been murdered and their bodies were dumped in the isolated areas. DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) testing will be required, since both remains cannot be visibly identified.The female is of Amerindian descent and her body was discovered by rice field workers.

According to information received, the police were called to a rice field after the body of the woman, clad in a blue short pants and yellow jersey, was found.

The victim sustained severe injuries to her face.A dark-silver and black ‘Nine West’ shoulder bag was found next to her body. It was soaked with water from the field.

The police also found a pair of pink rubber slippers. In the bag there was a handkerchief, a pack of cigarettes, sweets, sugar, tablets, and pieces of white paper that resemble a hospital’s prescription.The name, Patricia Ronald was written on one of the papers, but ranks are not certain that that is the name of the victim.

The papers were wet and muddy.Kaieteur News understands that the woman was seen consuming alcohol at the Vreed-en-Hoop Stelling the day before.

Meanwhile, mid-morning on Monday, the decomposed body of a male with both hands tied behind the back with a multi-colour rope was found in a clump of bush at Long Creek, Soesdyke.

The victim was found lying face down.Based on information received, a 27-year-old labourer reported to the police that one of his relatives discovered the body.Crime scene ranks at the Timehri Police Station went to the scene and examined the remains. Due to decomposition, it was difficult to ascertain whether there were marks of violence on the body.

The victim, who is believed to be in his mid-thirties, was clad in a black jeans, white jersey and black and brown slippers.The labourer, along with four others, had gone to the area to cut wood when they saw several crows circling the area. They subsequently saw the decomposing remains.

Missing pensioner’s car…Con man caught…minus vehicle!

Jun 14, 2017 News 0 Comments

O’Neil Simon, the man accused of fleecing 72-year-old Sukdai Ramsammy of her blue Toyota Corolla, HC 5044, was yesterday nabbed by the police, but not with the woman’s vehicle. He is currently detained at a city police

A detective cautions O’Neil Simon and places him under arrest.

station and according to a source, will likely be placed before the court and charged with fraudulent conversion.
The alleged victim, Sukdai Ramsammy, a resident of Sachi Bazaar Street, Prashad Nagar, told Kaieteur News that she placed an advertisement in a local newspaper in late March of this year for a hire car driver, since the vehicle was parked in her yard “doing nothing”.
Ramsammy said that when Simon initially came he was accompanied by a young child and she thought that she was about to make a good decision. Simon reportedly told the pensioner that apart from plying the taxi trade, the only other business he would use the car for was to attend church and take his children to school.
Further, the woman said that she had anticipated that she would have used the money from the hire car to help with her medical expenses, since she has severe arthritis in the left knee.
An emotional Ramsammy said that she agreed with Simon that he would ‘work’ the car and at the end of the week he would be expected to give her $15,000.
Things went well for the first two weeks, so much so that the woman even added Simon’s name to her insurance policy. It was at the end of that 14-day period that everything changed for the worse.
Simon stopped taking the elderly woman’s calls, and she enlisted her son to help in this regard. The son said that he managed to make contact with Simon, and was given all assurances that the car would have been returned.
The man said that after constantly calling Simon, he was instructed to uplift the vehicle, but when he and the pensioner went to the location provided, all they were confronted with was a track filled with bushes.

O’Neil Simon, the man accused of fleecing a 72-year-old woman of her car.

The man said knowing how the issue had taken a negative effect on his mother, he drove for a few seconds down the desolate pathway, but soon saw a group of men approaching with cutlasses and he retreated.
They soon left, and when Simon was contacted he told the woman’s son ‘don’t call me back’. Not knowing what else to do, the woman said she went to the police and when she showed the ranks at the station the man’s photograph the policemen exclaimed, ‘is dah thief you give your car mommy?’
The day after the story was published, a passenger who travelled with a hire car from the Stabroek Market car park, recognised Simon as the driver. The car (not the pensioner’s) was attached to a city taxi service.
‘A’ Division Commander Marlon Chapman was informed of Simon’s whereabouts and he arranged for two officers from Kitty Police station to accompany the individual who had made the report to the taxi base.
All this time, Simon was unaware of what was about to go down. He turned up at the base in good time after hearing about a potential Georgetown to Parika drop being requested.
When he arrived, however, he was promptly arrested and taken to the Kitty police station. He reportedly told ranks there that he no longer has the elderly woman’s car, since he parked it on a bridge in the Joint Services Scheme in North Ruimveldt. He claimed that he had called the woman’s son and informed him where the car was parked.
The pensioner’s son repeated the story to the lawmen that when he went to the location the car was not there, and instead, he saw men with cutlasses approaching, thus he quickly retreated.
Simon admitted that he should have taken the car to the pensioner rather than leaving it where he claimed he did. He explained that his only reason for doing that was because he had some outstanding money for Ramsammy and he had a minor accident with the vehicle.