Workshop owner, alleged carjacker remanded

Jan 26, 2022 News

Crackdown on carjacking gang…

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – The owner of R. Singh Workshop located at Montrose on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) and an alleged carjacker will be spending some time behind bars on remand after they were charged yesterday for their alleged involvement in the recent theft of two cars.

Wanted Gang Leader, Andrew Archibald.

They were identified as Ravin Singh, the owner of the workshop and Leon Lewis also known as “Turbo”.
The defendants were first taken to Saprendaam Magistrate’s Court where they were jointly charged by Magistrate Alisha George for collecting a stolen car from Beterverwagting on November 18, 2021. The car belonged to Tyrone Pires and was stolen from in front of his house.
Singh and Lewis pleaded not guilty but were both remanded until February 21, 2022. Lewis later appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before His Worship Rondell Weaver charged with robbery under arms. That robbery, which he allegedly committed was the recent hijacking of a white Toyota Allion from a taxi driver, Steve Mootooveren, at Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt.
The taxi was reportedly led into a Lewis’ trap by a young woman who had hired him from in front of the Giftland Mall located at Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown. Ranks from the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) had reportedly caught Lewis and Singh red-handed with Mootooveren’s stolen car in the Montrose workshop. When the ranks arrived, they were spraying over the vehicle.
After their arrests, Mootoveren positively identified Lewis as one of two gunmen that had dragged him out of his motorcar and drove it away. SOCU continued its investigation and it led to a major breakthrough in dismantling a well organised criminal gang that specialises in carjackings. Investigators were even able to identify the alleged gang leader.
He is well known as an auto and spare parts dealer and is said to be one of the masterminds behind a series of carjacking that had taken place in recent years. The operation for years has been undetected by police because the gang had managed to stay off the radar by figuring out a subtle way to leave a legal paper trail when selling their stolen vehicles. They would legally buy crashed cars and then steal others similar to the crashed ones purchased. Mechanics would then be tasked with making the stolen ones appear like the legally obtained ones and this include welding on engine numbers from the crashed cars onto the stolen vehicles. They would then resell them with legal documentation to unsuspecting buyers and the leftover stolen parts would be sold as spares on the local market.