A police operation yesterday found a large cache of arms at the Kitty home of the murdered Ricardo Fagundes and six persons are in custody.
The startling find will raise questions about how long the arsenal was in existence and its use. It will also deepen the mystery around the yet unsolved murder of Fagundes, known as `Paper Shorts’ outside the Palm Court Restaurant and Bar in March 2021.
A Police intelligence-led operation was conducted at about 5.30 am yesterday during which a total of 26 handguns and high-powered rifles, along with a cache of ammunition were found.
Six persons were arrested and are in custody, assisting with the investigation, the police said in a statement.
The Police team, led by a Superintendent, went to Lot 25 Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, at the home of Eon Fagundes, a 47-year-old clothes vendor, where a Search Warrant was executed. As the Police team entered the yard, Eon Fagundes was seen exiting the door of a flat wooden house in the yard with a side bag in his right hand.
The police say that he was confronted, and a search was carried out in the bag and one Sig Sauer Rifle and one magazine containing fourteen 9mm rounds of ammunition, one Polimore-80 9mm pistol without serial number and one magazine containing eight 9mm rounds of ammunition, one Spring Field Armory 45 pistol and four magazines, one containing five live .45 rounds of ammunition, and one Bravo gun holster were found.
The police say that Fagundes was asked if he was the holder of a firearm licence to carry the said firearms and he said ‘no’.
He was told of the offences committed, arrested and cautioned.
A further search was carried out in the house, but nothing else was found. A black Nissan Juke vehicle (Registration number PVV 6472) was parked on Sandy Babb Street’s southern side, facing west, opposite Eon Fagundes’ house. The vehicle was well secured.
The police say that Fagundes was asked who owned the car, and he said his daughter and the mother of his child, but he was the person using the car. He gave Police the keys to the vehicle, and a search was then carried out in his presence and the following firearms, ammunition and magazines were found in a suitcase, one golf bag and a haversack:
** One AM 15 rifle and two magazines containing sixty-one rounds of .223 ammunition
** Two Ruger-57 9mm pistols and one magazine containing forty rounds of 9mm ammunition
** One FN-45 pistol and two magazines containing thirty-eight rounds of .45 ammunition
** One Smith and Wesson 9mm pistol and one magazine
** One Berretta 9mm pistol and one magazine
** One Spring Field Hellcat 9mm pistol and one magazine
** One Canik 9mm pistol and one magazine
** One Glock 43 pistol and one magazine
** Five Glock 19 pistols, nine Magazines and twenty-one rounds of 9mm ammunition
** Seven Glock 40 pistols and ten magazines with eighteen rounds of 40 ammunition
** Two Glock 17 9mm pistols and two magazines
** One Glock 9mm pistol and one magazine
** One Glock 45 pistol and one magazine.
The police say they also found in the bags and suitcase:
** Seventy-five 12-gauge cartridges
** Four hundred and fifty-six rounds of .223 ammunition
** Four hundred and eighty-four rounds of 9mm ammunition
** Eighty-three rounds of 5.7- 28 ammunition
** Thirteen rounds of 10 MM ammunition
** Three hundred and fifteen rounds of 7.62 -39 ammunition and
15 magazines.
Fagundes was further told of the offences committed and cautioned.
A total of 26 handguns and high-powered rifles were found during the successful Police intelligence-led operation.
The following persons who were at the said address in the house at the time of the Police operation were all arrested for questioning, namely:
** Carol Fagundes, the 66-year-old mother of Eon
** Devena Persaud, age 22 years, niece of Eon
** Theresa Fagundes, age 49 years, sister of Eon
** Tessa Persaud, age 48 years, sister of Eon
** Clement Thornton, age 48 years, a handyman
The firearms, ammunition and magazines were taken to the GPF’s Ballistic Section to be examined, marked, sealed and lodged. The motor car was also lodged.
Investigations are in progress.
Ricardo Fagundes was riddled with bullets by two men outside of Palm Court around 10 pm on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
According to the police, Fagundes was having drinks with a colleague in Palm Court when he received a call on his phone. Shortly after exiting Palm Court, the police said several loud explosions were heard. Fagundes was later found lying in a pool of blood on the road. His body bore several gunshot wounds.
An autopsy later showed that Fagundes was shot about 20 times about his body.
Sources had told Stabroek News that the police recovered 30 spent shells at the scene. Sixteen were from an AK-47 rifle, while the other fourteen were from a 9mm-calibre gun.
During a speech at Fagundes’ funeral service, convicted drug trafficker Roger Khan said that he was the real target of the shooting. Khan had also been at Palm Court at the time.
Khan had appealed to President Irfaan Ali for a “clean and impartial” investigation.
“Mr President, we are asking you, I am asking you on behalf of the family of Ricardo, to give this investigation the very same attention that you gave the Henry boys. Ricardo’s life is no less important than any other life in Guyana. We are asking for the political will, we are asking for the resources, that this investigation be handled by impartial investigators,” he pleaded.
He said the family will not rest until they receive justice.
“…The hearts of men bleed for justice. It is a natural, God-given, inalienable thing that God gives man, to try for justice and this act here, this injustice, if the police do not investigate this crime and follow the evidence rather than follow the money or any kind of corrupt motive, the hearts of men will become enraged,” Khan stated.
Responding to Khan, the police in a statement had said that they were pursuing all leads to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
For years, the police have not been forthcoming on how the investigation is progressing and whether they are making headway. As a result, questions still linger about a number of aspects of the investigation. This includes whether the police were able to ascertain the identity of Fagundes’ alleged shooters from security footage obtained and if they were able to determine the origin of the AK-47 assault rifle which was used in the shooting.
In terms of the suspected getaway car, it is unclear whether investigators were able to determine if a vehicle found burnt at Swan Village on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, hours after the shooting was the same used in the crime.
As it relates to forensic work, the findings of ballistic tests from the spent shells and bullets recovered from the body remain unknown.
Dramatic turn
Matters took a dramatic turn in August of 2022 when police detective Dion Bascom alleged that there had been a cover-up of the killing of Fagundes.
Thereafter, Superintendent of Police Mitchell Caesar and Mohamed’s Enterprise moved to refute and distance themselves from the bombshell corruption allegations made by Bascom.
Caesar, the Deputy Head of the Guyana Police Force’s Major Crimes Unit, Azruddin Mohamed and an employee of Mohamed’s, Mark Richmond, through separate lawyers letters, demanded that Bascom retract allegations he made during a Facebook video and publicly apologise or face lawsuits.
The government later commissioned the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS) to investigate the corruption claims.
On September 9, 2022, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the RSS did not find any evidence of corrupt practices or an attempt to cover up the probe into the murder of Fagundes.
The RSS report was not released by the government, instead the Ministry of Home Affairs prepared a release purporting to present the findings of the investigation.
Observers had questioned from the onset of the RSS investigation how it would be possible to test Bascom’s claims unless it had spoken to him. Bascom was not spoken to by the RSS investigator and his request to President Irfaan Ali for witness protection was not responded to.
