Relatives of Lethem businessman Mohamed Khan say they are sure that a body found by Brazilian police on Saturday is his.

The body was found on Saturday afternoon by civil police in a savannah in the village of Sao Silvestre some 80 km southwest of the town of Boa Vista, Brazil.

Khan’s wife Linda confirmed yesterday that the body was positively identified by her and other relatives as that of her husband. She told Stabroek News it seemed as if he was murdered the very day he was snatched over two weeks ago by several policemen since his body was in a badly decomposed state.

Another relative said that Khan’s case was more a robbery/murder and not abduction. According to the relative, Khan was known for doing big business in Brazil and because he had to carry large sums of cash during these trips the men might have targeted him. He feels that the accused policemen had carefully planned their move, noting that they had allegedly perpetrated similar acts in the past. The relative told this newspaper that he received information that Khan along with other prominent Guyanese businessmen who conduct business in Brazil were under surveillance by these policemen who are part of a larger gang of police officers who have been accused of a number of crimes ranging from murder to kidnapping and robbery under arms.

According to the relative one of the policemen has since confessed that Khan was killed the very day. Stabroek News understands that two other bodies including that of an Amerindian male were unearthed around the same area where Khan’s body was found during the course of the weekend.

The relative noted that the US$6,000 Khan was carrying at the time was a very small sum compared to what he would usually take when going on a business trip to Brazil.

“I believe they had wanted to rob him, but after realising that he hadn’t plenty money they decided to kill him. Moreso, he knew one of them”, the relative said.

One of the suspects, Cesar Paulo, also known as `Buckley’ is a taxi driver who operates on the Lethem-Boa Vista route.

Khan was taken off a minibus bound for Manaus in Boa Vista on June 22. Three policemen all dressed in civil police uniform ordered him out of the vehicle, bundled him into a car and sped off with him. Linda said that her husband’s body was severely burnt and he appeared to have received a sound beating from his abductors.

The US$6,000 he was carrying on the day has not been recovered. His wife had initially told this newspaper that he was going to Manaus on what was said to be a visit to Guyana’s Honorary Consul to Brazil, Paulo do Vale to inform him about his plans to visit Canada and to complete a few business transactions.

Asked why Khan travelled on such a vehicle (a 52-seater bus) the relative said that was the only vehicle that would travel the Boa Vista-Manaus route.

The relative told this newspaper that today the family will know when the police in Brazil would hand over the body to them.

The four accused remain in police custody in separate cells. The three other officers apart from Buckley in custody are Domingo Pereira de Aquino, Adail Rodrigues Borges known as `Spider’, and Francisco Guimaraes known as `Hawk’.

The 49-year-old Khan hailed from Little Baiboo in the Mahaica River and his wife is from West Coast Berbice. Khan had left the coast at the age of 17 to become a teacher in Lethem. He taught for 20 years before tendering his resignation and later establishing the Savannah Inn Guest House in 1993. Apart from being the President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce, Khan was the president of the Rodeo Committee, Chairman of the Rupununi Day Committee and a member of the Tourism Board in Lethem. He had also served as a councillor on the Lethem Democratic Council.