Three men were on Monday afternoon attacked and robbed of a quantity of raw gold at the Matthews Ridge Airstrip and three of the four suspects, including a policeman, have since been arrested.
Police spokesman Jairam Ramlakhan, in a press release yesterday afternoon confirmed the incident which occurred around 1.30pm.
Police sources told Stabroek News that over 2 kilogrammes of raw gold belonging to Jairam Sukuram, a gold miner of Barama River was stolen during the incident.
The victims have been identified as Jose Da Costa, 58, a Brazilian national; Gary David of Plaisance, East Coast Demerara and Kevin Gomes, of Arakaka, North West District.
The raw gold, this newspaper was told was handed by Sukuram to the men to deliver to the airstrip.
Da Costa and David are said to be employed with Sukuram while Gomes was the driver of the pick-up that transported them to the airstrip.
The crime was reportedly committed by four men armed with AK assault rifles and two handguns.
Ramlakhan said that the police acting on intelligence yesterday morning intercepted a vehicle at Arakaka, North West District.
Two of the suspects, a businessman and the alleged mastermind were arrested, the release stated.
A search conducted on the vehicle unearthed several containers of fuel and a quantity of raw gold suspected to have been stolen during the ordeal.
During interrogation, the release noted that the suspects took investigators to a location where they handed over the following items: two 9mm handguns with magazines, an AK-47 rifle with a magazine, a quantity of ammunition, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device and a camouflage jacket.
“Based on further intelligence, a serving member of the Joint Services has been detained,” the statement added.
Sources told Stabroek News that the rank is a member of the Guyana Police Force.
While the police statement did not provide any details of the robbery, Stabroek News was reliably informed that Sukuram handed over the raw gold to the trio on Monday to deliver to a waiting private chartered aircraft at the Matthews Ridge airstrip. However, when the men arrived at the airstrip, the aircraft was not there. As a result, they parked the pick-up and sat in the building to wait on the aircraft. Whilst there, they were attacked.
Information reaching this newspaper revealed that the victims were held at gunpoint and tied up before the gunmen escaped with the raw gold.
David reportedly told the police that he managed to untie himself and informed the police.
The gunmen used the pick-up which was used to transport the victims to the airstrip in their escape bid. Less than an hour after, the pick-up was found abandoned some distance away from the airstrip.
