Police constable, businessman among three arrested after gold heist  

The gold bars which were recovered from the businessman and another suspect

Police detectives in Division 1- Region One on Tuesday arrested three persons including a businessman and a police constable attached to the tactical Services Unit of the Guyana Police Force.

The men were arrested following an intelligence led operation following the robbery of three persons on Monday at Matthew’s Ridge Airstrip by four masked men who were armed with handguns and a rifle.

In a statement from the Guyana Police force noted that on Tuesday morning at Arakaka, North West District, two of the robbery suspects were intercepted while in a car.

A search of the vehicle was conducted and the police found several containers of fuel and a quantity of raw gold which the police indicated in their release were suspected to be proceeds from the heist.

Police in their statement did not indicate that one of the robbers is a member of the force, all they said was it the person was a ‘member of the joint service’ the name of that rank as well as the businessman and the other person who are now in custody were also not released to public.

During intense interrogation, the businessman buckled and eventually admitted that he was the mastermind of the crime. He then took the police detectives to a location where he handed over arms and ammunition.

They included two 9mm pistol handguns, with magazines, one AK47 assault rifle and magazine, a quantity of ammunition for the three weapons, a GPS tracking device and a camouflage jacket.

The ammunition which the businessman who is also the mastermind of the crime, handed over to the police detectives

Recently President David Granger expressed concerns about the manner in which police do their work and their colluding with criminal elements which has a negative impact on successful prosecution.

This is not the first time that members of the joint services have been found to be carrying out criminal activities including murders and robberies against citizens, practices which drives a wedge between the organisations and the citizens.

At this point, it is unclear if the weapons which were recovered as part of the police intelligence operation are part of the inventory of the Guyana Police Force.

For months the police have been called upon to clarify how many weapons, if any that were recovered from criminals have been linked to other crime scenes and or if those weapons are part of the police force inventory.