Police yesterday recovered the getaway car used by the men who carried out the $58 million robbery at Wallison Enterprise in Kitty last week.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum confirmed to Stabroek News last night that the car was found abandoned in front of a suspect’s home at Cumming’s Lodge, East Coast Demerara.
The suspect, Blanhum said, has since fled to the interior and efforts are being made to locate him. He is suspected to have been the getaway driver.
While three persons have been charged with the crime, the police are currently searching for two other suspects—an ex-solider and another man known to the police.
According to Blanhum, persons in the Cummings Lodge area reported to the police that prior to leaving, the suspect brought home a canter loaded with various household items, which he bought a day after the robbery. They have been seized by the police, who suspect they were purchased with some of the loot.
Three men, Keyon King, Delroy Jackson, and Peon Lee, were charged on Tuesday with the robbery and remanded to prison.
King is a Sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force, while Jackson and Lee are guards at Wallison Enterprise. While King initially pleaded guilty to robbing the business of $38 million in cash and $20 million in raw gold, he recanted prior to his planned sentencing.
Investigators probing the robbery made a breakthrough in the case on Sunday following the discovery of some $18 million in cash, which was found buried at the Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) home of King.
One week ago, three men entered Wallison Enterprise, located at Lot 23 Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown, on the pretense of selling gold.
Once inside the building, they held two employees, a 45-year-old goldsmith and a 20-year-old female cashier, at gunpoint and ordered them to the safe which contained the valuables. Based on the charges laid on Tuesday, the owner of the business was also robbed of personal effects.
During the investigation, Blanhum told this newspaper, it was revealed that Lee, who was employed as the Chief Security Officer of Wallison Enterprise, purportedly orchestrated the robbery. He is alleged to have contacted King and told him of the plot to commit the crime. Lee then allegedly put King in contact with Jackson.
According to Blanhum, it was Jackson, who was allegedly channeling information to his accomplices as to when they should carry out the crime.
Acting on information, Blanhum said, investigators went to King’s Vergenoegen house, where a search uncovered cash buried in the backyard.
