Police in Curacao have detained six suspects, including a woman, over the recent heist of 70 gold bars, worth an estimated US$11.5 million, stolen from aboard a Guyanese boat.
The arrests come amid indications that the gold originated in Guyana.
The Associated Press (AP) yesterday reportedPolice spokesman Reginald Huggins as saying that the authorities would soon release more details.
Although seven persons were arrested after a raid on Thursday afternoon, one was later released after interrogation.
The Curacao Chronicle reported that one man, G.T.R, 43, was arrested at a jewellery store in Otrabanda (downtown Willemstad); another man, A.J.D.D., 46, who was born in neighbouring Dutch island of Bonaire, was arrested at Santa Rosaweg; the woman, M.D.C.P.B., 45, and born in Venezuela, was arrested at a house in Boca Sam; two of the men, Venezuelans J.L.F.S., 44, and L.A.F.S, were arrested at a house in Mahuma; and two other men, natives R.R.P., 46 and S.P.A.E., 22, were arrested at Seru Loraweg.
“After the interrogation the man S.P.A.E. was released while the other suspects were kept under arrest for more investigation,” the report said.
It also noted that during the investigation, the police have confiscated articles. It added that the customs also participated actively in the preliminary part of the investigation and that because the investigation has some international aspect to it, the Police Corps has communication with the authorities from these countries.
The Chronicle earlier identified Giovani Regales, a jeweler, as being among those arrested and said that two of the gold bars were found on his premises. It added that another media outlet reported that 30 of the gold bars were found in the US and that a “major organisation” there was helping with the case.
AP said that one of the Curacao men arrested is the owner of a local jewellery store, while the other two suspects were held at the jeweller’s house.
Efforts to contact Minister of Natural Resources Robert Persaud yesterday once again proved futile. Reports are that he is currently on vacation outside Guyana.
The arrests come nearly a month after gunmen pretending to be police daringly stole 70 gold bars weighing 216 kilogrammes (476 pounds) from a fishing boat in Curacao.
Curacao authorities have not said where the gold was being delivered, but one of the ship’s crew members said they were delivering the gold to an unidentified company in Curacao.
Stabroek News was told that following the visit by two staff members of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) to Curacao in relation to the heist, local investigators are coming to the conclusion that the stolen gold came from here and would have therefore been smuggled out.
When Stabroek News spoke with GGMC Commissioner Rickford Vieira he informed that his agency was still working on compiling a report. He denied that the team sent to Curacao had spoken to the boat crew, saying that persons on the Dutch island were not cooperative. “Our people are still working on the report. People in Curacao were not cooperating with our people. They never spoke with the crew members; all the information they got is on the robbery,” he said.
The crew of the vessel, Summer Bliss, have not departed Curacao. When questioned why, Huggins told Stabroek News that the crewmembers were not being held by the police and he did not know why they have not yet left the island. The police there would not release the names of the crewmembers, since they stated that the investigation was a sensitive one. However, a crew member who gave his name as Raymond Emmanuel had reportedly told AP that the crew left Guyana on November 26, bound for Curacao.
According to AP, Huggins did not say who owned the gold but he said it was a legal shipment that was being transshipped via Curacao and that officials on the Dutch-administered island had been told in advance that it was coming as part of normal security protocols. He declined to reveal the eventual destination of the shipment.
