Army, police rescue kidnapped businessman
By Kim Lucas
Stabroek News
May 18, 2003
Loud cheers erupted in the troubled village of Buxton yesterday morning after a Guyana Defence Force (GDF)-led operation rescued businessman Viticharan Singh from a house on Company Road. Four men have since been arrested and handed over to the police.
A gang of armed bandits snatched Singh from his De Hoop, Mahaica home on Tuesday during a robbery attack. Several attempts were made during the week to rescue the 55-year-old businessman, one of which resulted in the death of GDF Lance Corporal Shemton Dodson on Thursday morning.
Following Dodson’s death, Stabroek News understands that the army deployed a second company to the troubled East Coast Demerara communities between Buxton and Cove and John on Thursday night.
After intense intelligence gathering, the GDF got a breakthrough and, together with some members of the Guyana Police Force, launched a series of cordon and search exercises in Buxton early Friday and part of yesterday.
This newspaper understands that the first in a series of searches took place at 4:00 am yesterday and the forces searched a house at the corner of Church of God Road and the railway embankment. Two men, one of whom was the 27-year-old brother of Tshaka Blair who was shot and killed by police last year April, were arrested.
Army sources said that the operation that rescued Singh took place at 10:48 am. The man was found in a house on Company Road, Buxton, eight yards south of the railway embankment. People said the man looked “gaunt and weak.”
He is reportedly being treated at a city hospital.
Two more men were arrested during that exercise. One of the men is believed to be the older brother of 18-year-old Quacy Blair, who too was shot and killed by the police earlier this year. Sources said that based on the reaction of the villagers after the businessman’s release, it appears that the criminal stronghold on the village may be weakening.
A joint police/army press release yesterday stated: “About 11:40 hours kidnapped businessman Viticha-ran Singh of De Hoop, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, was found in a house in Buxton by a joint army/police team which acted on information. The businessman was handcuffed and [his] feet were bound. [He] was discovered in [a] house south of the railway embankment. The house was locked and from all appearances, abandoned. Two persons have since been detained and are assisting the police in their investigations.”
Stabroek News understands that it was the silence of Singh’s family that kept him alive. Ever since the businessman was snatched, his relatives maintained that no ransom had been demanded for his return. They told the media that the kidnappers had not made contact with them.
However, law enforcement agencies yesterday claimed that the kidnappers were demanding $40M for Singh’s safe release, but the man’s family had reportedly claimed that they were only able to raise $4M. Stabroek News understands that the kidnappers had agreed to accept that amount.
“But the silence is what kept him alive; negotiations were going on all they time,” one source claimed.
Four armed men grabbed Singh from his home around 6:00 pm last Tuesday, bundled him into a dark Marino, HA 8754, and took him to a house on Company Road, Buxton. The GDF later intercepted the car at Beterverwagting Public Road with only the driver inside. That man has since been handed over to the police. He claimed that he was hijacked.
Since Tuesday evening, the army and police had been scouring several East Coast locations, but came up empty handed. The man reportedly told the police yesterday that just before he was carted away, two armed men emerged from a car in front of his home and asked for the owner. Singh reportedly denied that he was the owner, but the gunmen suspected that he was lying. After he was placed in the car, the man told authorities, two men sat on either side of him until they got to Buxton.
Over the last four days, Singh was reportedly moved several times. It was based on information that he was in a house at the corner of Barnwell Street and Church of God Road early Thursday morning that the army and police moved to the location and engaged three men in a shootout, which resulted in the death of Lance Corporal Dodson and two of the gunmen.
Singh’s kidnapping was the latest in a series since the crime situation in the country started spiralling out of control last year. However, his rescue is the first of its kind for the army and police.
