-says lost valuables
A businessman yesterday said valuables went missing from his Prashad Nagar home after five men, claiming to be Custom Officers, searched the premises without permission.
Up to yesterday, there was no word from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on this matter.
Azeem Baksh, the owner of the Delhi Street home, told this newspaper that he was not home at approximately 2 pm when the men without uniforms arrived. However, he passed by his house later and noticed strange men standing outside.
“I was passing here to go to Ogle,” Baksh explained. “That is when I saw four or five strange men in my yard and I stopped…One of the men identified himself as Liverpool and said that he was a custom officer.”
According to Baksh, the man who identified himself as Liverpool told him that they were searching his property because they had learnt that he had “uncustomed goods” in his yard.
Stabroek News further learnt from Baksh that the men then demanded that he get out of his car. However, he said that at that point he’d suspected that the men were bandits and he refused to disembark his vehicle.
“I told them that I had to go out and I drove away…as I was driving away I glanced in my rear view mirror and I saw the men get in a red four runner and drive off,” Baksh said.
Baksh stated that he is a licensed gold and diamond dealer and has no idea what sort of illegal “goods” the men might have been looking for if indeed they were from the GRA.
According to Baksh, his security guard was present at the time of the incident. Baksh said he learnt from his employee that five men dressed in civilian clothing demanded he open the gate and let them in or they would jump it. One of the men, Baksh recalled, had two tear drops tattooed under his left eye.
“I had four carpenters working on the ceiling of my home at the time so after the guard let them in he said that they made him walk in front of them and they proceeded to search the house and yard,” the man explained.
After the incident Baksh said that he reported the matter to the Prashad Nagar Police Outpost and later to the Kitty Police Station. The police, Baksh reported, have already launched an investigation in the matter.
There were reports that the men were armed with guns. When questioned about this Baksh’s guard said that he did not see any of the men with a gun.
Further, the businessman said that he visited Kurshid Sattaur, GRA’s Commissioner General, yesterday and informed him about the incident. Baksh said that Sattaur neither confirmed nor denied whether the men were indeed from his organisation. Baksh, visibly disturbed by the whole incident, refused to comment further on the matter and again informed Stabroek News that a quantity of raw gold and cash was missing from his home but he was not prepared to disclose the estimated value.
When this newspaper visited Baksh’s home hours after the incident his business associate, who did not state his name, pointed out the various dredging materials and machinery in the compound.
The man reiterated Baksh’s statement that they were licensed gold and diamond dealers. According to him, they had several dredges in various interior locations.
Because he is a licensed gold and diamond dealers doesn’t means he cannot have any illegal materials in his yard?
He should have co-operated with the men, he had nothing to loose nor be afraid of because he had many witnesses in his yard. Maybe he had something to hide thats why he drove away.
where are their ID. you need a warrant or police escort when such searches are taken place.
i will defend my interest at all cost, i think its time guyanese do the same, unless they are accompany by a fully dressed police officer.
Him having something to hide might be true but if these men were indeed bandits, witnesses would not prevent thme from shooting Mr Baksh. We have seen all the time people being gunned down at high noon in full view of others.
“Baksh recalled, had two tear drops tattooed under his left eye.”
…..sandhurst any person with two tattoo under his eye………take note its the symbol for taking two person’s life in the states………….guyana crime situation is getting worse by the minute……….big jag stop apointing the wrong people ………send rohee and top cop on leave for xmas and try something new …..
SandHurst, a very good response!! for a person who judges by name..
He made a good decision to drive away, don’t know if they are really customs or criminals, as a Businessman and the crime situation, could be forced to give more gold/diamond or be assasinated, like the woman in front of dozens of bystanders at Agricola.
F.Y.I. BANDITS DONT CARE ABOUT WITNESS, THE MAN WAS RIGHT TO DRIVE AWAY, I WOULD NEVER LET A STRANGE PERSON ONTO MY PREMISSES WITH ALL OF THE CRIME HAPPENING NOW. TO MAKE MATTER WORST THE GRA CANNOT VERIFIED IF THEY WERE INDEED STATE EMPLOYEES.
in the US each tattoo tear drops mean that he had killed two persons, may be he is a deportee.
why did the guard not called the police to verify who, these people were claiming to be.
one tattoo for each person[correction]
Something don’t sound too right with this story, something fishy is going on here,and this businessman is not being upfront with the media, i feel he’s hiding something, there should be an investigation to this story.
This sounds really fishy. Don’t Customs Officers wear badges or carry some form of ID? Why would they want to jump the gate of refused entry? Why not simply call in the Police? Sounds real strange.
Christmas coming – people are coming up with ingenious ways to get money!
My sentiments exactly. Since there is a general lack of organisation, total chaos in most aspects of society & corruption & frauds are rampant anybody could get any type of id from any printery & laminate it for a “small tap up”. Unless a Police rank with his name & number on his chest comes to do the search whoever comes better be better than Steven Seagal because I have 13 crazy dogs & while they taking care of distracting you & have a nice cutlass & a few cured bull pistles for your a**
In my opinion, the owner of the property manufactured a defence by claiming he is a victim of theft. A proper investigation should be conducted on this matter to clear the air for those officers or the businessman.
“Because he is a licensed gold and diamond dealers doesn’t means he cannot have any illegal materials in his yard?”
SandHurst First, is that a question or a statement?
a question, i wanted to know if he is above the law
well, the situation in guyana with all the robberies and home invasions being carried out on citizens, it can be understandable when this guy drove away, you just cannot trust a soul, especially when strange men appears at your house( as in the case of those bandits that went to the police’s man residence saying that they were meter readers) asking to search your premises, i would be suspicious myself and drive straight to the police station.
SandHurst First wanted to know if the the business man was above the law. What did he do to raise that question? Evrything in Guyana is based seen suspicilusly based on politics or race. With all those witnesses, no one called police or questioned these men? The businessman did not write down license platee or call police while driving away? This does need investigation, unfortunately, our police is not up to it.
If the law enter your property in your absence, even if the have a search warrant, some corrective action must be available in favour of the owner of the property. All sorts of ridiculous things occur in Guyana. Things really have changed, Prashad Nagar was once a wonderful place to live in. We could count on the fellows at the police outpost there, as children we never felt more protected. It’s funny how things and places change for the worse. As the owner of the property stated, things disappeared from his residence! Should he depend on the police for a solution, or simply accept his losses?
Hear uall…..with all that is going on in GT; Baksh did the right thing to drive away;
If those guys were official govt people they can find him later. The head of GRA had nothing to say, that is suspicious. Where is the warrant? If uncustomed goods were found, were they going to use the evidence in court? He did go to the station to make a report, now it is up to the boys in uniform to investigate.
These guys had no ID, no uniform, five people in one vehicle, tear drop tattoo,
hell………I’ll hit the gas pedal too……….see ya……….stayin alive!!!!