Police still looking for key grenade suspect

The police yesterday continued their hunt for an individual who it is believed played a key role in last week’s grenade lobbing incident outside of Kaieteur News even as close to a dozen suspects and the vehicle suspected to have been used by the perpetrators remain in custody.

A source close to the case told Stabroek News that detectives are still looking for the “main” individual. The information is that this person is the mastermind behind the incident which saw a live grenade being tossed at a vehicle owned and driven by Kaieteur News owner Glenn Lall.

The source could not say what detectives have managed to extract in relation to the vehicle but said that it is being held “for good reason”. The source said too that a total of eleven men remain in police custody. Police have been granted an additional 72 hours to detain the suspects.

A total of six persons, including the owner of the vehicle were on Tuesday morning arrested at various locations throughout Georgetown. The men who are between the ages of 20-25 remain in custody. The others were arrested subsequently.

So far the motive for the incident is unclear.

The grenade was on Saturday evening lobbed outside the offices of the Kaieteur News on Saffon Street, Charlestown, where staff had gathered for a wake for senior reporter Dale Andrews.

The device, which did not explode, was thrown at Lall’s vehicle, which was parked in front of the building at the time. It landed near to one of the front wheels. Bomb experts have since been able to destroy and dispose of the grenade at the Kingston seawall.

The police in a press release had said that after reviewing surveillance footage, ranks detained a car matching the description of the vehicle used and the six suspects.

The car was found abandoned in the vicinity of Norton Street and Mandela Avenue after it reportedly hit a woman before slamming into a utility post. The car owner initially told investigators that his vehicle was hijacked at Albert Street on Saturday evening.

He later changed his story after he learnt that his vehicle fit the description of that from which the grenade was thrown. He then said he had lent the vehicle to someone.