Dismantled carjacking rings was intelligence driven – Crime Chief

Crime Chief, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Paul Williams

Georgetown: Crime Chief, Paul Williams says diligent detective work and the launch of similarly timed raids have resulted in the smashing of at least three carjacking rings across the country. “Coming into the latter quarter of 2017, somewhere in early November late October there would have been several reports as it relates to carjacking issues. That of itself would have really created a serious level of concern for the nation and also the Guyana Police Force (GPF). In that regard, we started as much as possible to obtain information which we processed and brought into Intelligence.  That information is now giving us the fruits of our successes, in terms of the carjacking rings that are being broken.”

According to Williams, recent operations on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara have resulted in more than a dozen persons being arrested and placed in police custody.

“Now we may have maybe about 15 persons countrywide in terms of our operation. However, ‘A’ Division would have gotten the most because if you really follow the [reports] out of Soesdyke and Kuru Kuru, they would have had numerous persons. We also now target some of the vehicles that are working as taxis to see if they are legitimate in terms of engine and chassis number.”

In addition, Williams said a number of the vehicles have been linked to other crimes across the country. The Crime Chief pointed out that no charges have been laid since the investigations are extensive and must include verification of registration and vehicles by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). He, however, expects charges will be instituted shortly.

“In some of our early breakthrough some of the vehicles were linked to armed robbery in Linden on Old Year’s day; vehicles were linked to armed robbery on the East Coast in the vicinity of Better Hope area and vehicles were also linked to armed robberies somewhere on Rupert Craig highway just in the vicinity of the Russian Embassy – where a person was robbed, and a vehicle taken.”

According to Williams citizens who have had their vehicle stolen or hijacked in the past are asked to make contact with the police to ascertain ownership of those retrieved.

“We were able to retrieve a number of vehicles and a number of accessories; some of them still carrying the numbers of the vehicle on them. As a result of that, we want to open to the public and have come in to check out those accessories and vehicles. There are some chassis too, so, let them come and check them out and see if there is anything in effect that can match the registration that they may still have in their possession for those vehicles that were being stolen or missing from them.”