TWO Officers attached to the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) are assisting the Police in their investigation of a fatal shooting which resulted in the death of 40-year-old labourer Charles Caesar, called ‘Naggazar’.Caesar, a father of two, were among six persons who were intercepted by BASS, as they were off-loading a motor vessel (boat) aback Number 66 Village on Friday night.

According to 18-year-old Devon Fraser, just after 20:00 hrs, while being in company with five others, they went to the Number 66 foreshore in a minibus with the intention of off-loading items from a boat. The motor vessel was captained by a Surinamese, who would transport smuggled items.
It was while they were offloading, that two members of BASS approached shouting: “Nobody move; everybody lay down flat”.
He recalled that they fired a warning shot. “Then two other shots followed shortly afterwards, followed by another. We were all lying on the ground with our hands behind our back. Caesar was seated on the makeshift wharf where the boat was moored. His foot seemed to be tangled with the rope which had tied the vessel. However, after the shots were fired, they bundled us in the bus and took us to their office,” Fraser said.
“At the BASS office, they took our personal information, such as our name and address, before taking us to the Springlands Police Station where ranks were told that we were smuggling and that if we have money we can be placed on $10,000 bail each, and if we don’t have money, then we have to stay in the lockups. The BASS officials did not tell the police that there was a shooting incident. All they say was that we were caught smuggling,” Devon Fraser said.
He recalled using a cellphone to call his sisters who subsequently posted bail for all those who were detained.
Meanwhile, Tamika Fraser recalled that after she posted station bail for the men, she returned to her Line Path home. It was then she realised that Charles Caesar was not accounted for. It was just before midnight when she decided to look for the missing man. She drove to the Number 66 foreshore, where she saw Caesar lying on the foreshore, bleeding profusely from an injury to his left leg.
“I noticed a piece of tarpaulin which I used to tie the injured leg. Devon help me put him in the trunk space of the Spacio car, and I drove him to the Skeldon hospital where nurses tried to save his life. The doctors said he bled profusely, resulting in him loosing much blood. Shortly after he arrived at the hospital, Caesar died,” she told the Chronicle.
According to the 22-year-old woman, she left the hospital for the Springlands Police Station, where she reported Caesar’s death and it was then that the police became aware of a shooting incident.
According to a source at BASS, officials from the anti-smuggling squad were carrying out routine surveillance when they intercepted a motor vessel offloading aback Number 66 Village.
“During that period a warning shot was fired, in an attempt to prevent the unlawful act. A minibus driver and four labourers were detained and the minibus containing 60 cases of aloe drink, and 6 cases of dates were impounded,” the source stated.
Investigations are continuing.

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric