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–– ring leader ‘busted’ at Parika short-time hotel
— teacher, students from several top schools involved
COPS at Parika, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) may have uncovered an organised ring whose players are engaged in trafficking of the date-rape drug, ecstasy, by utilising school-aged girls in the trade.
Reports are that the lawmen uncovered the ring on Sunday as they searched for a Stewartville Secondary School student, aged 14, who was reported missing by her parents on Friday.
‘D’ Division Police Commander, Edmond Cooper, confirmed to the Guyana Chronicle that a suspect is in custody in connection with the incident regarding the 14-year-old girl. He said too that investigations into the incident are ongoing.
See also:
–‘Nations’ boy gets 3 years for ecstasy
Reports are that two young men, one who goes by the alias “Scooby Dew” and who is said to be the ring leader, and another by the alias “Alex” and who is said to be the boyfriend of a Mae’s Secondary schoolgirl who committed suicide recently, have been fingered in the case. A female teacher who teaches at a Tuschen, EBE private school was identified as being a part of the gang.
Reports are that the entire scenario played out when the lawmen and the parents of the missing secondary schoolgirl searched for her over the weekend.
This publication was told by a source that when the teenage girl did not return home from school on Friday, her parents became worried and reported her missing. The child’s parents scoured the East Bank Essequibo area after receiving information about the persons with whom she was in contact, including Scooby Dew.
The parents of the child later found out that she operated a Facebook account under a fake name and they started to scour her social media account. The girl’s parents managed to engage Scooby Dew, who is listed as a mutual friend of the young lady on her Facebook account.
While he was unaware initially that he was chatting with the teen’s mother, he was asked if he knew about the missing girl and he later told the child’s mother that he knew nothing about her daughter’s whereabouts. He later changed his story and according to messages seen by this newspaper, the man provided vague details about the teen’s whereabouts. In one message, he told the woman that her daughter is ok and that she has “herself handled.”
In a subsequent message, he told the woman that the child would be home around 20:00hrs on Sunday.
In a desperate move to find her daughter, on Sunday, the mother travelled to the village of Barnwell, EBE, where she was told where the young man lives. In the company of the police, she enquired from his parents about his whereabouts. His parents provided the lawmen with incorrect information on two occasions. This included two wild goose trips to a boat building location at Parika and another section of the business community. The suspect’s mother subsequently called and informed him that she was going with the ranks to the police station
Later on Sunday, the police encountered Scooby Dew walking out from a ‘short time’ hide-out hotel and took him to the Parika Police Station. While there, he was grilled about the missing schoolgirl’s whereabouts but remained tight-lipped.
The girl’s parents told this newspaper that they overheard the man’s relatives attempting to bribe the policemen and this infuriated the missing girl’s mother who, in a fit of rage, grabbed the suspect. During the melee, his phone fell out of his pocket.
DRAMATIC TURN
Reports are the police ran through the man’s phone and it was here that the investigation took a dramatic turn.
A series of chats were observed in which a host of messages and conversations about the ring’s activities were noticed. Since the suspect was uncooperative, a message was sent to a recipient in the group as bait.
The message included a request for food for Scooby Dew. Luck was on the side of the police, since another gang member questioned if the young man was still at the hotel with the missing girl. This piece of information provided a valuable clue and police raced to the “short time” hideout at Parika.
During this time, the suspect and his relatives had managed to inform the missing teenager that the police were on their way and reports are that when the ranks and girl’s father arrived at the hotel, they found the girl stepping out dazed and swaying. She was reportedly drugged repeatedly by the teen and other gang members. On seeing the police and her father, she ran back into the hotel.
The police then raided the room where she was kept and found food, empty fast-food boxes with chicken and empty beverage bottles. According to reports, the gang booked the room with the intention of raping the girl and luring other girls.
While the lawmen investigated the chat messages in the suspect’s phone, information led them to the home of ‘Alex’ at Tuschen, EBE. A police source reported that the ecstasy pills were found at the man’s home; but according to relatives of the missing girl, while at the police station at Parika, the man was attempting to bribe the police to clear his name.
On Thursday, in the presence of her mother, the 14-year-old girl detailed the activities of the gang, including who are its leaders, who supplies the drugs to the gang and the names of several top secondary schools, including the Tuschen private school, which one of the gang members attended and where a teacher who visited her while she was kept at the hotel, teaches.
She also detailed the methods used by the gang to package the drug at the pharmacy at Tuschen, EBE. This included precise packaging of various quantities of the date-rape drug in capsules for resale to known customers.
TOP SCHOOLS
She also related that Scooby Dew would take her to an Alberttown, Georgetown address where a man supplies the gang with the drug. The drugs are then distributed to persons at several secondary schools in the city to sell, including top private schools which have been making the news recently and one of the country’s leading senior top secondary schools.
The young lady expressed fear for her life, and according to her mother, the gang members threatened to kill her if she disclosed their activities. Her parents noted too that a medical report indicated that the girl was sexually assaulted.
Investigators at the Leonora Police Station have taken over the case from their colleagues at Parika. Reports are that investigators are awaiting legal advice while the prime suspect remains behind bars.
The parents of the girl were subsequently contacted by the parents of the late Vanica Schultz, the Mae’s Secondary student who committed suicide late in January.
Schultz also lived at Tuschen and her parents told the parents of the 14-year-old girl that they were more than familiar with Alex. He was said to be Schultz boyfriend prior to her death on January 25, 2019. He was later arrested in connection with her demise but was released on $20,000 station bail several days after she died.
Schultz activities at school were uncovered after a list of names of persons at school who owed her sums of monies for the ecstasy pill was found in her school bag and was reported to the school’s teachers.
Reports are that the illegal hallucination drug LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) which alters an individuals’ awareness to his/her surroundings, is also traded by the ecstasy gang and the trade also involves a post office on the EBE.
