Wife, friend in custody after cocaine find

Following a bombshell drug find, the reputed wife of Raphael Piggott and a friend who was with him when he was executed, have been taken into police custody.
Piggott’s reputed wife, Evanese King, was taken into custody on Monday afternoon after police unearthed eight kilos of cocaine in the fuel tank of her husband’s car along with a large sum of foreign currency.

She is in custody at the East La Penitence lock-up.
Vincent Da Costa, who was in the car on Sunday afternoon when Piggott was shot and killed by a gunman, was taken into custody after he reported to police yesterday and he had not been released up to late last evening.

Raphael Piggott

Piggott was shot and killed by an armed gunman at Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge around 5.15 pm on Saturday.
Although his family could not provide a motive for his murder — saying he walked and sold clothes and spare parts and also worked his car as a taxi — with the discovery of the drugs the case is now being treated as drug-related.

Da Costa’s relatives said he reported to the police at Sparendaam after he saw his name in the newspapers. On Monday, the police released a statement saying they were trying to locate Da Costa. His relatives said he was not in hiding and the police knew where to find him as he had given a statement to them.

Meanwhile, Piggott’s relatives said yesterday that they do not believe that he was involved in anything illegal, despite the discovery by police.
The man’s mother, Ena Piggott, told Stabroek News that her son was a taxi driver and that “anybody could put thing in the car”.

“We hear since yesterday [Monday] what the police say and we ent believe but we have to go with the flow and go on living,” one of the man’s sisters added.
They still could not come up with a motive for the man’s brutal slaying but they are convinced that it was not drug related and emphasised that he was not involved in anything illegal.
Police said the drugs were discovered during a detailed search of the car belonging to the 26-year-old businessman and Guyhoc Park resident. During the search, the police found eight packets of cocaine with a weight of eight kilogrammes concealed in the fuel tank of the vehicle to which some adjustments had been made. Police had initially found US$14,041 and 1,100 euros in the vehicle at the scene of the murder. The money is in police custody.

King told Stabroek News on Sunday that they had just returned from Suriname, where they had gone to do Christmas shopping. Her husband was dropping off Da Costa, who had accompanied them, at his Sixth Street, Cummings Lodge home when the shooting took place.

King recounted that they had reached Da Costa’s lot but he had not exited as yet as her husband wanted to turn the car around.
Piggott reversed the car in a rash manner and then she saw him look through the window, at which point she saw a man with a gun in his hand walk up to the car and fire two shots, which hit her husband in the back.
King said since murder she had not seen Da Costa.