DETERMINATION on the part of two women led to the arrest of a man who had defrauded a woman of close to one million dollars over two weeks ago after promising her that he could secure a Canter truck for her.

Bibi Shaw, who lives at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara and sells pastries at the junction of Ogle Road and the Embankment had entrusted $700,000 to Zamalodeen Khan for the purchase of a Canter truck, which she wanted to convert into a mobile canteen.

According to information reaching the Chronicle, the man who is also a customer of the woman, approached her earlier in this month and stated that he had a friend who has a Canter truck to sell but he was not in a financial position to purchase the vehicle at the time. As such, he was willing to make representation for her to purchase the vehicle for the same price that the man was willing to offer him it for.

Khan of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara told Bibi Shaw that the total price of the truck was G$1.2M but that she needed to provide a down-payment of $600,000.
The woman, however, decided to give Khan $750,000 in two separate payments ($150,000 and $600,000 respectively).

The deal was for the man to facilitate the fabrication of the mobile canteen and take the woman to see the job before it was completed.
However, after the man failed to deliver on his promise to purchase the Canter truck as well as failing to give the woman any feedback, followed by a ‘royal push around’, she became suspicious.
Khan stopped taking telephone calls from the woman and began asking her to wait for him at various desolate points along the East Coast of Demerara and other parts of the city, but he never showed up.

The woman related that she became very fearful for her life after reading of the various bodies that were turning up at seawalls and other locations, of recent, especially those of women.
She then contacted a female friend and together they began doing their own investigation for the past week and got a break-through last night after they showed up at a fabrication shop where Khan had previously taken her, saying ‘this is the place where the fabrication of the Canter truck into a mobile canteen would take place’.
When Shaw and her female friend revisited the Fabrication establishment yesterday, she met an employee who then broke the news to the women – after they described the man who they were looking for – that this is not the first time that the said gentleman (Khan) had defrauded persons.

The employee explained that, even though they are acquainted with Khan and knows where he live, the workshop does not do any work for him.
They then directed the women to where the man was living at Better Hope. The women immediately left for Better Hope where they staked out Khan’s home. Shortly after, Khan showed up, driving a different vehicle than the one he had used when he had earlier approached the businesswoman and defrauded her of her money.

The Police were immediately informed and they arrived at the home and called out to the man who refused to exit his house. His wife who is said to be a doctor then looked out from the building and said that her husband was not at home. However, when confronted by the two women who saw him driving into the yard, she agreed to open the gates to her premises and the police conducted a search of the premises where the man was found hiding in a washroom inside the house.
He was arrested, told of his rights and continues to be held at the Sparendaam Police Station up to press time.
This newspaper has been reliably informed that the Khan and his wife are in the business of defrauding persons and this is not the first time that persons have approached the police and level claims of being defrauded by the couple.
Those matters however, were never brought to light as the couple would always opt to settle the matters outside of the courts by reimbursing those persons whom they have allegedly defrauded.
It was discovered that when the man approached his victims he would usually supply them with an address in Corentyne, Berbice.
Checks by this newspaper found that documentation on the man which are in the possession of the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Guyana Elections Commission both have different addresses along the Corentyne Coast in Berbice although he has been living in Better Hope, East Coast Demerara for years.
It was also established by this publication that the man might have also provided the Guyana Elections Commission and the GRA with false information so that when he conducts his fraudulent transactions there can be no real traces as to where he resides and/or his true identity.
The man is expected to be placed before the court on Monday to answer to the charges.

By Leroy Smith