A Lethem businesswoman was on Friday evening robbed of money and over $300,000 in jewellery by three armed men who are believed to be Brazilians and a photograph left behind by one of the men has been positively identified by Brazilian police as that of a known criminal who is wanted for a series of murders and armed robberies in that country.
A source told Stabroek News that up to yesterday none of the men had been captured although Brazilian police were cooperating fully with investigations.
The businesswoman, Bibi Zulika Samaroo, told Stabroek News that she was confronted by the men, two of whom were armed with sawn-off shotguns and the third with a handgun, at about 8.30pm on Friday night as she was about to close her Lot 173 Lethem supermarket. One of her friends, Vedakanand Dalip, was in the supermarket at the time chatting with her. Dalip along with one of her employees was placed to lie on the floor and bound with duct tape by the men.
She related that she was alerted to the presence of the bandits by the employee, but before she could react they were already inside the store and had closed the door. She said that one of the men held her at gunpoint, choked her, and in Portuguese repeatedly demanded money and jewellery while calling her name. The men assaulted her and threatened to shoot her but she begged them not to do so. She said they all spoke Portuguese and were Brazilians.
One of them opened the cash drawer and took out $80,000, representing the day’s sales. He also relieved her of the jewellery that she was wearing, including three gold bangles, three gold chains, three gold bands and a gold ring. She said that the jewellery was worth “about $300,000 to $400,000.” They demanded more money and jewellery which they claimed she had, but she told them that she didn’t have any. At this point they insisted she had some in a nearby house and one of them proceeded to force her there leaving the other two in the store. However, the building that she led him to at the back of the supermarket was an abandoned house, and when the gunman realized this he began to choke and assault her. She said that he then began to force her to go to her home nearby, but she resisted. She said that while at the gate, “me and he scramble and I fight and run away from he.” During the scramble, she continued, she succeeded in pushing him to the ground. Her eleven-year-old son was a witness to the struggle and started to scream, and the gunman told him to be quiet or he would shoot him.
By that time her seven-year-old grandson who observed what was going on had run to a neighbour’s house telling them that his grandmother was being robbed, but they did not believe him. After she escaped from the bandit, she raised an alarm and the gunman ran away leaving his accomplices inside the shop. Subsequently, noticing that their comrade had vanished, the two men in the store took off, in their haste leaving a haversack containing photographs, a CD player with CDs, toothpaste, a toothbrush and pants.
Lethem police assisted by their Brazilian counterparts who were in the border community early yesterday morning, are investigating the matter as police believe that the men escaped to Brazil after the robbery. A source confirmed to this newspaper that the photograph of one of the robbers left behind was identified by Brazilian police as that of a known wanted criminal who is accused of a series of murders and armed robberies in their country.
In the wake of the incident, shocked residents of the Region Nine, Upper Takutu/ Upper Essequibo community are calling for increased security there. A few of them told Stabroek News that security at the border should be beefed up and there should be more ranks at the Lethem Police station. They said that previously the police patrolled the border but this has since been stopped. However, when contacted an officer at the Lethem Police Station said that border patrols are undertaken occasionally. A Guyana Defence Force army base is located in Lethem but it is unclear if border patrols are undertaken by them.
A prominent Lethem resident declared that crime is “definitely rising” in the community and said that with the lack of street lights, the roads were not safe to walk at night any longer. She stated that during the dry season persons commonly walked and drove across the Takutu River when the water level dropped, and at present the level of the water was very low.
This newspaper was informed that the issue of street lights was addressed at a Regional Democratic Council meeting held last week and officials had promised to discuss this with the Lethem Power Company. Stabroek News was told that the few street lights that Lethem has, had been turned off since last year because of the increasing cost.
Residents also said that in the light of imminent resumption of work on the Takutu Bridge and with the expected increase of people travelling over the border, security was something that should be urgently looked at. They said that what had made the issue shocking was that crimes of this nature very rarely occurred in the community.
In 2005 two US missionaries, Charlene and Richard Hicks, were clubbed to death and their San Jose home, which is some distance from Lethem, was burnt. Since then police have issued bulletins for two men, Cassiano Eugene, 24, of Communde Indigena De Puim, Brazil and Guyanese Peter Marare, 18, in connection with the murders. It is believed that the men fled to Brazil and have been living there ever since. Additionally, in 2003 Lethem businessman, Mohamed Khan on a trip to Brazil was taken off a 52-seater bus by three men dressed in Brazil Federal Police uniforms. The bus was heading for Manaus. The men ordered him out of the bus and into a car which drove off in the direction of Boa Vista. The abductors later made contact with his family and demanded $5M for his return. The money was never paid and Khan was later found dead in Sa Silvestre, some 80 kilometers from Boa Vista.
Meanwhile, yesterday in Lethem rumours were rife that the gunmen were prisoners who had escaped from prison in Brazil recently. As the annual three-day rodeo is currently being held in the Brazilian border community, Bom Fin, and the town consequently has an influx of visitors, residents believe the men timed the robbery so they could escape easily.
