Two men accused of being part of the gang that stole millions from America Street money changers during an ambush last week, were yesterday charged with two counts of armed robbery at a city court.
It is alleged that Troy Abrams, 40, of Lot 93 Crane Housing Scheme and Anthony Primo, 30, of West Ruimveldt, robbed Rayburn Fraser of a quantity of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname and United States currency, equating to $1,600,000 on November 3 at America Street. The two were also charged with robbing Osafo Ward of a quantity of Guyana and US currency totalling $540,000. The men were allegedly armed with guns during the attack.
The moneychangers were robbed last Tuesday evening when armed bandits, who were riding motorbikes, descended on them. The bandits were said to have been armed with automatic weapons, which they fired into the air before demanding that the moneychangers hand over their cash.
Abrams and Primo were not required to plead to the charges as the matter was made indictable.
Deniro Jones, police prosecutor, objected to bail being granted to Abrams and Primo, while stating that the men were allegedly responsible for terrorising a group of people. He noted that they had been apprehended following the receipt of information by the police and had been placed on four different identification (ID) parades.
However, Abrams told the court that he was identified by four persons during the ID parade but claimed that the parade was staged, while noting that no one in the line-up matched his description. This claim was echoed by Primo, who told the court, “some a dem taller than me, some finer than me, some a them hair even straight, Your Worship.”
The man went on to question the validity of his arrest and pointing out that from what he had heard the men who committed the act had been masked. Primo further stated that his constitutional rights had been violated as he had objected to an ID parade. Both defendants alleged that they were at home at the time of the robbery.
Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan ordered the duo to be remanded until December 11, when the case is to be called again.
