A 16-year-old girl who was in a car with two men who are suspects in a number of gunpoint robberies in Linden was released on Monday night after seventy-two hours in police custody.
A high-speed chase between the police and persons in a white Toyota Allion car on Friday resulted in four suspects being arrested and held in the lock-ups at Linden.
Stabroek News had reported on Saturday that at least three men, suspected to have been involved in robberies in Linden, were arrested following a high speed chase in which shots were fired.
On Monday it was confirmed that in the car were two men, including the driver, and two females, one 16 years old and another 19 years old.
According to relatives of the 16-year-old girl, they were disturbed by the fact that the juvenile was locked into a cell with the 19-year-old as opposed to being held on the bench.
The family of the 16-year-old said that she had left for lessons and “took a drop” with the 19-year-old in her boyfriend’s car when they were intercepted by police. The men were believed to have been wanted in connection with a string of robberies in Linden.
Several shots were fired in the vicinity of the Amelia’s Ward bus park, where a large number of commuters were awaiting transportation shortly after 9:00pm on Friday. The suspected bandits were apprehended along Sir David Rose Street after racing with police through several streets.
Persons close to the 16-year-old said that they were convinced that it was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time as the juvenile said that she did not know either of the men.
“She asked her friend for a passage to get and the friend told her to wait with her because her boyfriend was on his way to pick her up with his car.”
The 16-year-old said that during the high speed chase she attempted to jump out of the moving car but was held back by her female friend. Her relatives spent endless hours at the Mackenzie Police Station pleading with ranks to release the teen but to no avail. However on the seventy-second hour which was approximately 6:45pm she was released into the care of her relatives. Her mother fainted while at the police station shortly before her release and had to be rushed to the Linden Hospital Complex.
However, the 19-year-old remained in police custody past the 72-hour period stipulated by law without any charge being laid against her. It is permissible for the police to keep an arrested person in custody for seventy-two hours before taking him/her before a court.
Gunmen on Friday attacked and robbed salesmen at One Mile, Wismar, Linden, and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash and a cheque.
Police had said that Edward Beharry Co. Ltd salesman Richard Alves, 55, and porter Michael Pooran, 19, were distributing cigarettes to a shop in the area around 12:55pm when they were held up by five men who were armed with handguns. The gunmen took away the cash and a cheque in the sum of $270,000 and escaped.
There was another robbery on Blueberry Hill, where a taxi driver was attacked on Friday night. Thursday night Linden/Georgetown minibus driver Dwayne, aka Redman, and his wife were robbed at their lot 19 Wisroc Housing Scheme home. Dwayne was wounded in the head and is said to be recovering at his home. The couple was robbed of jewellery, cell phones and a number of other personal effects that were in a handbag.
