Three men involved in the El Dorado Gold heist made their first court appearance on Wednesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer to the charges against them. The men charged were Ameerullah Khurchullah and Anil Diaram of Berbice and Kenneth Garraway of Charity, Essequibo.
The trio appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and were not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on Friday November 8 at Port Kaituma, North West District, they stole a quantity of cash and several ounces of gold totalling Gy$ 93 million.
Special Prosecutor attorney Glen Hanuman stated that the general manager of the business orchestrated the crime. He procured Khurchullah and Diaram, whom he knew from before to come from Berbice to Port Kaituma with the third accused, Garraway, three days before the crime.
Khurchullah and Diaram collected the gold and cash and returned to the Charity area, via boat, with Garraway.
Hanuman said that the general manager confessed to his early involvement in the crime and led the police to the house of the two Berbicians where millions of dollars and several ounces of gold were found.
Oral and written confessions were collected from all of the defendants. Monies were recovered from all of them and this cooperation led to the police conducting further investigations into other persons who may have been accessories to the crime before or after the fact.
Other charges are likely to come and other persons are likely to be charged.
Also, other articles believed to have been stolen were recovered.
The police are trying to investigate the origin of those articles and the possibility that the same group may be involved in past robberies, and in particular, a robbery/ murder that occurred in the same office involving the same employee a few years ago.
The prosecuting attorney added that he made an offer for a medical examination to be conducted on the accused since they claimed they were terrorised by the police but the defence opposed.
Khurchulall and Diaram were represented by attorney Tajnarine Ramroop who told the court that neither of his clients were previously convicted and made an application for bail stating that the offence was a bailable one.
Attorney Nigel Hughes, who represented Garrway, told the court that his client is not a willing accomplice since he merely transported the other two accused. Attorney Hughes also made an application for reasonable bail.
Chief Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry ordered that the accused undergo psychiatric evaluation and they were remanded to prison.
The matter stands adjourned to November 26.
