Murdered Suriname rice miller may have arrived in Guyana via No. 63 Beach

Nitender Oemrawsingh
Nitender Oemrawsingh

The Surinamese rice exporter whose body was discovered on Monday with a single gunshot to his forehead was reportedly brought to Guyana through the Number 63 Beach, Corentyne route.

The body of Nitender Oemrawsingh, 40, of Corantijn Polder, Nickerie District, Suriname who was fingered in his country’s largest drug seizure, was found Monday around 4.30 pm on the Number 63 Beach. He was clad in a blue armless shirt, black trousers, a pair of socks and boots.

A police source told this newspaper that based on the gunshot injury, it is suspected that a .32 pistol was used to shoot the man straight in the middle of his forehead.

The No.63 Beach

Residents in the area yesterday claimed, that a boat was seen at the beach on Monday. It is suspected, that the man would have been brought to Guyana with the boat.

Additionally, some residents who would graze their animals at the beach stated, that a blue car was present at the beach from early Monday morning. “One blue car been deh since morning and then it lef when the police come,” the cattle rearer said.

Another livestock rearer who resides a short distance away from the beach, stated, that early Monday morning he heard a gunshot sound coming from the beach. He said, “Me hear the thing and me tell me brother one load go off there that was early morning me na know what time though,” the man who was present at the beach yesterday grazing his goats said.

Yesterday at the Springlands backtrack route in Guyana, persons explained that they did not see the man cross through that route between last Wednesday and Monday, as they noted that the last boat arrives around 5 pm every day. “We does close off here at 5 (pm) so if he come, got to be he come through the beach at night,” one man who asked for his identity not to be revealed, said.

 Commander of ‘B’ Division, Paul Langevine, yesterday explained that the man’s body was identified by an uncle yesterday at the Skeldon Public Hospital.

According to Langevine, ‘B’ Division has launched an investigation since the man was discovered dead in Berbice, Guyana. Yesterday afternoon he stated that no one was yet in custody but investigators were on the ground probing.

A police source in Suriname when contacted yesterday afternoon confirmed that an investigation was underway, while he said that no one had been held in Suriname either.

Langevine stated that he is of the view that Suriname police officials will be coming over to Guyana to supply additional information to local lawmen.

He stressed that as soon as the police in Suriname come over to Guyana or show an interest in coming over to Guyana, local investigators will have more information.

Asked whether the police had a theory as to how the man would have arrived in Guyana, Langevine said, they were not sure as of yesterday. He also stated that he had not received any information about a boat that was seen on Monday at the Number 63 Beach

 It is being suggested that the man was shot dead  on the orders of a big businessman in Suriname who was afraid that Oemrawsingh would have ratted him out in connection with the drug seizure in which he, the deceased, was fingered in. “According to information we have is that he [deceased] is a man that will squeal easy, so a certain businessperson who drugs it was is afraid that he would a call his name,” a source said.

According to the source, it is strongly believed, that the drugs discovered last week did not belong to the deceased but that he was involved in transporting the illegal item. “We were told that this is his first time in this,” the source added.

 This publication was also informed that relatives of the deceased were allegedly fingered in smuggling cocaine and gold several times in the past.

The source had said that investigators are working on the theory that the killing was a `hit’. They had ruled out robbery since a small amount of US currency was found in his possession at the time of the discovery along with a cellphone and a spent shell.

The father of two was the proprietor of Nivash Rice, a milling company in Suriname, and was detained last week by Surinamese police following the drug bust. Stabroek News was told that Oemrawsingh was last seen in Suriname on Wednesday, a day after he was released from police custody.

Surinamese media last Wednesday reported that at least 2,300 kilograms (5,070 pounds) of cocaine had been found. In an interview with local radio station ABC, Prosecutor General Roy Baidjnath Panday declined to confirm the exact amount, but said it was likely “well above a thousand to at least two thousand” kilograms, Reuters had reported.

 News agencies in Suriname reported that the seizure was made at the Jules Sedney Port in Paramaribo after the discovery was made by the port security during one of their routine control checks.

The parcels of suspected cocaine were hidden in eight containers filled with rice which were said to be registered to Oemrawsingh’s mill.

Meanwhile, according to a source in Suriname, four persons; a customs officer, two customs brokers and a truck driver have so far been held in relation to the drug bust.