A MAN has been arrested in neighbouring Suriname in connection with the alleged murder of a police officer whose lifeless body was discovered in a parked car on Sunday morning, in Passiebloem Straat, Paramaribo, Suriname.

The officer who was identified as Premcharan Ravikant, 23, is alleged to be linked to the recent pirate attack in that country’s waters that has left four confirmed dead fishermen and 11 missing.

According to information received, in what is suspected to be a reprisal killing, the family reported the kidnapping of the said officer on Saturday evening, indicating that he was abducted by “Guyanese”.

According to a reputable source, it is alleged that the officer supplied a gun which was used in one of the attacks on the “Guyanese fishermen”.

Investigators also reportedly found a text message in the officer’s phone that he had forwarded to his father.

The text reportedly stated that the dead police officer’s father was responsible for the death of Somnauth Manohar, the man who was gunned down on March 30, in Suriname.

It was that incident which is said to have led to the April 27, attack on the four fishing vessels with the 20 fishermen. Five of the fishers have survived the attack, the bodies of four have washed ashore and 11 are feared dead.

An SoS message was, according to reports, dispatched on Saturday evening to police ranks in Suriname for them to be on the lookout for the officer’s car and his whereabouts.

The death of the policeman comes on the heels of the suspected arson of an Enterprise, East Coast Demerara, home allegedly by persons in the fishing industry.

According to a police source, if the incidents are indeed related then it means the attackers or those involved would go to extreme measures to tie up loose ends, including taking out those that may link them to the crime.