Ricardo Rodrigues, a close associate of jailed drug kingpin Roger Khan, was mowed down by gunmen at the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) in Georgetown yesterday, just days after being released on bail following his detention over the unearthing of an arms cache in Lethem.
Rodrigues, 40, called ‘Fatman,’ who had addresses at Bel Air Gardens, and Bel Air Village, Lamaha Gardens, was clearly the target of the attack, which was carried out by a group of men numbering between four and five. Three other persons, Aubrey Henry, Michael Hopkinson and Jean Le Blanc, were wounded in the shooting and they were rushed to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where they were later admitted. They are listed as being in stable in condition.
Rodrigues had been a perennial target of major police investigations, including murders, but he always managed to escape charges. He was identified by name by former US Ambassador to Guyana Roland Bullen, in a 2006 Diplomatic Cable since released by WikiLeaks, as an “established player” in drug trafficking in Guyana.
The shooting occurred close to 3 pm at the Albert Street sports club, where there is a gym and a restaurant.
“We were in the restaurant and Ricardo and his boys were there drinking, when I saw about four men in black came running in and we thought was police chasing after bandits. But when they started firing at them, everybody duck for cover and I ain’t look left nor right anymore I just start praying,” one patron of the sports club told Stabroek News.
Another, who was in proximity to Rodrigues at the time of the shooting, said his assailants attempted to hide their faces when they started shooting.
“The men came in from the main gate running, their masks were down but as they run they pulled it up… it seemed they were Brazilians from their colour… and they just started pumping shots… ‘Fatman’ see them and go to run but he ain’t make it… I was in shock but the people knew where they came from and just as fast as it happened, they ran back in the same direction. The people who got shot were by accident, I think, because they didn’t seem to focus on no one else,” the source said.
Contrary to eyewitness accounts, police, in a brief statement, said the shooting was carried out by a lone gunman. Rodrigues, according to police, was pronounced dead on arrival at the GPH.
In the aftermath, GMRSC gym instructor Henry, 35, was shot once in each of his legs. One of the bullets immediately exited while the other was removed at the hospital. Hopkinson, 42, was hit to his right arm and right foot and had to be rushed to surgery to have the bullet lodged in his arm removed. Le Blanc, meanwhile, was shot to his right hip.
Rodrigues’ bullet-riddled body, meanwhile, lay in a corner of the GMR&SC facility for over an hour as police conducted their investigations. Near to his hand there was a semi-automatic gun. Rodrigues reportedly attempted to defend himself but fell short of completion.
Police recovered a number of spent shells from the scene.
The way was eventually cleared and gates opened as the man’s reputed wife and then one of his teenage sons came wailing. At first, the police, who maintained heavy presence around the area and kept security at both entrances, did not want to allow the family members in. But after they began screaming, they were allowed in to view the body.
‘You live by the sword’
Many persons, including friends of the deceased and injured, converged at the entrances of the facility and could be heard talking of the nature of the killing and of Rodrigues. “You live by the sword, you die by it… he had to know he was going to die. They do too much wrong in this town,” said one bystander.
Rodrigues was only recently detained by police in connection with the discovery of arms, including high-powered rifles, at Lethem on October 1. Rodrigues surrendered to the police last Tuesday, just a day after they issued a wanted bulletin for him and his cousin, Clive King, called “Bora,” for questioning about the weapons.
He was held for the night and then released on station bail after his lawyer moved to the High Court challenging the decision to hold him without charge.
Police had raided a house at Tabatinga, Lethem and found four automatic rifles along with four magazines and 389 rounds of 7.62×39 calibre ammunition; six M-16 rifles along with two magazines and 74 matching rounds; two shrapnel hand grenades; one Icon VHF radio set; one Icon hand-held radio set; and one roll of camouflage material. Observers say that the weapons were clear indicators of the flourishing arms and drugs trade particularly over the Brazilian frontier.
Prior to him being sought over the arms find, Rodrigues had been named as a person of interest by police on a number of occasions prior. In 2006, police had announced that Rodrigues was wanted for questioning along with Khan, Gerald Pereira and ex-policeman Paul Rodrigues. In the following year, Rodrigues was wanted again along with others. It is unclear whether he surrendered to police on either occasion. However, in late 2010, he was wanted again for questioning in the aftermath of a spate of killings. He surrendered and police released him on station bail after lawyers surrendered challenged the police to show reason why he and others who had also surrendered, should remain in custody.
Khan, who was arrested in Suriname in 2006, was later taken to the US, where he pleaded guilty to face drug trafficking and witness tampering charges. He was charged with conspiring to import cocaine into the US over a five-year period, from January 2001 to March 2006, and the US government also said he was the leader of a cocaine trafficking organisation based in Georgetown that was able to import huge amounts of cocaine into Guyana, and then oversee exportation to the US and elsewhere. The US government also said Khan’s enforcers committed violent acts and murders on his orders that were directly in furtherance of his drug trafficking conspiracy. A paramilitary squad was referred to as the “Phantom Squad,” which a confidential US source said was responsible for “at least 200 extra-judicial killings” in Guyana between 2002 and 2006.
‘Due process’
Meanwhile, main opposition APNU yesterday said it was concerned at the development and noted that unlawful extra-judicial executions should not be allowed to replace legitimate law-enforcement tactics.
“A Partnership for National Unity would like to see due process in order to learn more about the crimes of gun-running and narco-trafficking. APNU feels that extra-judicial executions should not be allowed to replace legitimate law-enforcement measures if criminal cartels are to be discovered, dismantled and destroyed,” it said in a statement, while noting that Rodrigues has been a ‘person of interest’ to law-enforcement agencies for most of the past decade.
“Brigadier David Granger, Leader of APNU, stated that the execution of Mr Rodrigues exposes the weakness of public security under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration. APNU once again calls for the removal of Mr Clement Rohee as the Minister of Home Affairs and his replacement by someone capable of suppressing crime, enforcing the law and preserving this country’s security,” it added.
The attack on Rodrigues was reminiscent of others here. The police have had little success with solving these killings.
