Slain postal worker may have recognized bandit

Postal worker, Germin Forde, who was shot dead early Friday morning in New Amsterdam by bandits, may have been killed because he recognised one of the attackers and called the person by name, a police source said yesterday.

The source told Stabroek News that they have received reports that the man called out a name which was apparently that of one of the bandits and as a result he was killed.

Meanwhile, the source said all of the persons, including the driver of the car Forde was in and a security guard who was also a passenger in the car, have been released. The police said they have three main suspects on their radar but reports have indicated that the men have fled to the Canje Creek area.

And in other developments the police have taken a silver Toyota Carina into custody after it had been parked on the No 2 Canje Public Road since around 11 am on Friday morning. According to reports residents saw the car parked on the roadway on Friday morning and since it was still there the following day they alerted the police. Police yesterday said they are investigating whether the car may have been linked to the robbery. It is understood that the car is owned by the driver of an ambulance who also lives somewhere in the Canje area. When police visited the man’s house on Saturday morning no one was home and neighbours indicated that the man and his family left for neighbouring Suriname sometime on Friday. A police source yesterday said that they found it strange that someone would just park their vehicle on a public roadway and leave it unattended for such a long period.

Forde, a Postal and Telegraph Clerk employed with the Guyana Post Office Corporation at its New Amsterdam branch, was slain when bandits in a car forced a vehicle hired by the post office to stop and demanded cash. Police on Friday had stated that the Chief Postmaster, the Postmaster, a private security guard and Forde had travelled by a hired motor car to Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited at Strand, New Amsterdam to transact business. They were unable to complete the transaction.

“While returning to the Post office and travelling along Alexander Street, a metallic beige coloured AT 192 Toyota Carina motor car travelling in the opposite direction with four men inside, forced the car with the postal workers to stop,” the release had said. Two gunmen emerged and held the workers and the driver at gun-point and demanded cash while two other armed bandits forced the security guard, the postmaster and Forde to the ground and took away the mail bag that was empty and an amount of money made up of coins in a money bag.

It was during this process Forde was shot in his left side and they then escaped in the waiting vehicle. Forde was later pronounced dead at the New Amsterdam Hospital.