Latest update December 3rd, 2024 1:00 AM
Oct 09, 2015 News
Police came close to busting an organized ring of criminals who target mainly incoming travelers of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
This happened because of an alert driver and quick response from the Guyana Police Force (GPF). The combination led to the capture of one of three men, responsible for several attacks on travelers coming from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
Shawn Thom, 37, of Third Street Alexander Village was shot twice to the left foot by police ranks, who responded to a driver’s call informing ranks that he was being followed from the airport.
Last February, Shawn Thom and Orin David, were released from prison for the 2010 murder of Mahaica businessman, Lakhram Bishundial after a mixed jury at the Demerara Assizes found them not guilty.
Bishundial was driving his vehicle along the roadway when he observed his brother in his motor pick-up.
The siblings stopped their vehicles and were talking on the road when two men rode up on a motorcycle. The pillion rider, who was armed with a handgun, got off the motorcycle, approached the two brothers and discharged rounds at Bishundial, hitting him in his abdomen.
The armed man then grabbed a bag containing an undisclosed sum of cash from the pick-up and escaped along with his accomplice on the motorcycle. They were subsequently captured.
According to the police, about 23:00 hrs on Wednesday, police ranks confronted the occupants of a motor vehicle at Barr Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
This was after ranks got information that the occupants of the car were trailing someone from the airport to Barr Street, Kitty.
The ranks came under fire from the occupants of the car and returned fire, wounding Shawn Thom. His accomplice managed to escape.
An unlicensed .38 revolver with three live rounds and two spent shells were recovered and the motor vehicle seized by the police.
A police source who is part of the investigation, explained that two cars went to the airport to pick up their relatives whose flight arrived at 21:50 hrs on Wednesday.
At the airport, a relative, who is aware of the current situation in Guyana, whereby, bandits would trail travelers from the port of entry to their home and escape with their luggage and money, noticed the men acting in a strange manner.
The police source said that when the relative (the driver) left the airport with the two passengers, he also noticed the three men leaving in a yellow Toyota IST HC2303. The car followed him all the way to Kitty.
Realizing that the car was indeed following him, the alert driver called the police.
“He (the relative) called the police and explained what happened. He told the police where he was heading and the police went there and waited in an unmarked vehicle,” the police source said.
He further told Kaieteur News that when the passenger car arrived at his home on Barr Street and stopped in front of his yard, the yellow car with the three men, stopped a corner away.
“Two of the men came out of the vehicle at a bridge and one of them remained in the car,” the police source said.
According to the source, the police believe that when these bandits follow persons from the airport, they do not carry weapon with them.
In fact, police suspected that when the bandits would have already identified where the travelers live, they call on another person, who would drop off the weapon.
Explaining what happened Wednesday night; the police source said when the relative indicated to police that the men, who had stopped at the corner, were following him, ranks approached them.
The bandits, sensing trouble, immediately opened fire at ranks who returned fire, hitting Thom in the process.
His two accomplices managed to escape on foot, leaving behind a weapon and the car.
Kaieteur News understands that a woman, Rowena Singh, a travel agent at Muneshwar’s Shipping, was followed and robbed about two weeks ago.
Singh, who also lives in Kitty, allegedly told police that the yellow IST the men used Wednesday night, was the vehicle that trailed her from the airport to her home.
Police believe that there is someone at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport who informs the bandits.
“What they do is, they wait until the people come out their vehicle to take out the suitcases then they would ambush them. After they finish, the one waiting in the car would collect them,” the police source said.
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