Source February 17, 2016
People’s Progressive Party (PPP) employee Jason Abdulla was arrested late Monday afternoon at Freedom House, Robb Street as part of the still ongoing investigation into the death of political activist Courtney Crum-Ewing and yesterday the police pulled in shadowy figure Shawn Hinds and another man in the same matter.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum told Stabroek News that Abdulla remained in custody yesterday afternoon but was tight-lipped about other questions surrounding his arrest.
However, Stabroek News was informed by a source that the PPP employee was taken into custody as part of the Crum-Ewing murder probe as well as in relation to another matter.
Hinds, who has been the subject of numerous investigations and who created a stir last year when it was reported that he claimed to have been part of a death squad, was taken into custody yesterday. Another man was also detained yesterday.
The PPP, in a statement issued following Abdulla’s arrest, said that ranks of the Guyana Police Force took him into custody for unknown reasons. It said he was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters, at Eve Leary, and was being moved around suspiciously.
“A lawyer representing the interest of the employee was told by the police that the officers who arrested him had left the station and that no further information was available. The latest information is that he may have been taken to the Grove/Diamond Police station,” it further said.
The party added that police had attempted to arrest Abdulla at a recent picket exercise in front the office of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission at Kingston but subsequently retreated.
“This development reinforces the suspicions of a carefully orchestrated diabolic plan by those in authority to target and harass people associated with the PPP,” the statement added.
Crum-Ewing was shot dead on the evening of March 10, 2015 at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where he was urging residents to vote against the incumbent PPP/C at the May 11 general elections. He was shot five times, including three times to the head.
For weeks prior to his death, he had held a one-man protest outside the office of the then Attorney General Anil Nandlall, calling for his resignation over controversial statements he made during a telephone conversation with a Kaieteur News reporter that was made public.
On August 7, last year, Regan Rodrigues, called “Grey Boy,” was charged with the murder.
This came after ballistic tests done on an illegal .32-calibre gun found at Rodrigues’ Georgetown residence was linked to the murder scene.
Rodrigues was charged with the possession of the weapon after surrendering to cops, whom he had managed to elude before his home was searched. But on January 11 he was freed of this charge following a trial.
Rajput Narine, an ex-bodyguard of Nandlall, was also taken into custody and questioned but was released without charge. His lawyer had said that although police told Narine he was being arrested in connection with the Crum-Ewing investigation, while in police custody he was never questioned about it. There was, however, a confrontation between Rodrigues and Narine.
