Two detained taxi drivers have confessed to planning the armed robbery on mall owner Ganesh Ramlall and subsequently transporting the killers including the now dead Rolston Morrison to and from the businessman’s La Jalousie home, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said yesterday.
Morrison, the suspected leader of the gang, was killed and an alleged gang member shot and wounded during Tuesday’s early morning “shootout” with a 25-member Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team. Charges are expected to be laid shortly against the two taxi drivers.
Stabroek News understands that the two men detailed their actions during intensive questioning which continued yesterday, telling investigators that the planning began outside a bar-b-que where Ramlall was in attendance. Both men reside along the West Demerara corridor. It is unclear whether the men were detained before or after police swooped on Morrison’s den located at Craig, East Bank Demerara.
Yesterday sources revealed that Morrison and his gang were “hired hands”. Persons would contact them whenever they wanted a crime committed. It would appear as though the gang‘s specialty is armed robbery. Seven men suspected to be members of the gang were arrested at the Craig address following the shooting.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the conclusion of the annual Guyana Police Force Awards Ceremony, Blanhum said that police are “actively pursuing” four persons as investigations intensify. He confirmed too that ballistic tests on a weapon found at the Craig scene confirmed that it was used in two recent killings. This test was done on Tuesday, hours after the reported discovery of the weapon, an unusual occurrence in police investigations.
Reports emanating out of Eve Leary seem to suggest that the force might have smashed a criminal gang which may have been responsible for a number of high profile crimes committed within recent weeks. Police are under pressure to bring the escalating crime situation under control. In this regard Tuesday’s development has left lingering questions as to just how police managed to conduct a successful operation and how only one gun was recovered if there was a shootout involving about nine men who had barricaded themselves in a house. A pistol would have been no match for the high power rifles the 25 SWAT ranks who had surrounded the Lot 118 First Street property were armed with. This also raised questions given that some of those detained are known to be involved in gun-related activities.
According to Blanhum, ballistic tests on the 9 MM Glock pistol with two magazines containing 25 matching rounds found at the Craig scene revealed that it “was linked to the La Jalousie killing and it is also linked to the Travis Rudder murder. We would have received spent shells previously which we were able to match with those incidents also”.
Asked if the injured bandit and the others who were arrested were being sought for any other crimes, he said that police are still in the process of doing background checks. He assured that he will be briefing the media, adding that the force will be penning a further press release based on the status of the investigations. A police constable was shot and wounded during the exchange and he remains hospitalized.
Asked how the police plan to ascertain who pulled the trigger in the two murder incidents when so many persons were arrested at the house, Blanhum said that the police are doing investigations in this regard and will continue to question those in custody. Asked if investigators have a confession, he said “we have evidence which I would not reveal at this point in time. Apart from evidence we would have also received (there is) some amount of intelligence which we are working with”.
Blanhum yesterday maintained that based on the information provided to police Ramlall was killed during an armed robbery. Ramlall the owner of a mall located at the corner of Regent and Wellington streets was shot six times in his yard two Sundays ago. Reports are that he was cornered by four gunmen who later escaped on bicycles with his jewellery and a wallet. Now with the confession of the taxi drivers and the apparent identification of at least one perpetrator the SWAT ranks seem set to collect the $5M reward that was being offered via an advertisement in the Kaieteur News.
Ramlall was shot around six times which indicates that more than one gunman had fired.
Police during the Craig operation also found two watches which investigators suspected were stolen. Senior police officials have confirmed that one of the watches has been positively identified as having been stolen during an armed attack on the home of Commissioner of Title Nicole Pierre at Felicity on the East Coast.
During that attack Pierre and her husband were badly battered and had to be hospitalized. The attackers after tying up a security guard and battering the couple had escaped with a suitcase and a safe. No mention was ever made of jewellery or watches being stolen.
As they fled the attackers came under fire from another security guard attached to a nearby home and police later arrested four men; one of whom has since been charged for his alleged role in the attack.
Asked yesterday for an update on that investigation given that the police are supposedly looking for at least half a dozen men, he said that that along with the Ramlall and Rudder matters is part of one large investigation. “We are treating it as one because of the perpetrators we have in custody and the intelligence we would have received and evidence gathered this far and the investigation is ongoing”.
Based on the police statements, the gang would have roamed far: La Jalousie on the West Demerara to Felicity on the East Coast Demerara and hiding out at Craig on the East Bank of Demerara. Security sources say this is unusual as gangs would seek to limit the extent of travel along the established network.
No shootout
Meanwhile information from residents suggests that there was no shootout at Craig on Tuesday. One resident recalled hearing rapid gunfire. Based on the gunfire heard only one calibre of weapon was used which would suggest that only one side was discharging rounds and not both as the police have said.
The police this newspaper had been told surrounded the building and approached from all corners. In this regard no one could have escaped unseen and there was no way a gun could have been concealed without it being found.
One man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, had recounted that he and his family were awakened by the loud gunshots and screams. “I just hear ‘Pow! Pow!’ over and over and while the men went hollering, I hear a policeman… hollering, `This he, this is the one that kill ‘Boyo’ (Ramlall). And another one, with a strong voice, I hear he saying, ‘Come out from down there! Why you hiding under the bed?’” he said.
One woman said too that the shooting started after police kicked down the door to the apartment that the men were in. “Them go from the back of the house, kick down the door and just start shoot. They just can’t come in people house like that and start shoot… none of them boy didn’t shoot, is the police do all the shooting themselves,” she said.
The recovery of a single gun has raised eyebrows and leans more to the residents’ accounts that there was no shootout.
Morrison and the other alleged gang members had gathered at the house for a party and would have been there for several hours before the police came storming in.
The house which is owned by an overseas-based Guyanese was rented to a couple about three months ago. The man and the woman were never seen again but recently residents began noticing strange men going into the apartment.
Why the police rushed to do ballistic testing on the weapon found and how they managed to have the watches identified in less than 24 hours has also raised questions. In other cases these investigations have taken days.
