BERBICE Anti-Smuggling Squad [BASS] officer Safraz Khan, who allegedly fired the shot which fatally wounded Charles Caesar, has been charged with manslaughter.He appeared before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Springlands Magistrates Court, where he was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
The 40-year-old Khan of Hassin Street, Line Path, Springlands, was charged on the recommendation of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
He was granted $250,000 bail and is expected to return to court on Thursday, August 20, 2015, for report.
The charges stemmed from an anti-smuggling routine exercise on July 3, 2015 at the Number 66 Foreshore, when members of the BASS intercepted his motor vessel, thereafter resulting in the fatal shooting of Charles Caesar.
Caesar, called Naggasar, was among six labourers, who were assisting in offloading the motor vessel, which contained 60 cases of Aloe drink, and six cases of dates.
Meanwhile, an eyewitness had told this publication that after the captain had moored alongside the makeshift wharf, the now deceased Charles Caesar was seated at the side of the wooden boat, and was collecting and passing on the smuggled goods to his fellow workmates, when two ranks of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad approached, fired a warning shot, whilst saying “nobody move.”
After being ordered to the ground, one of the Bass officers was overheard saying, “Is change you all voted for, is change you all will get,” before rapidly discharging two more rounds and subsequently a fourth. During that period, the captain attempted to flee, but he along with the mini-bus, its driver, and the smuggled goods, along with four persons were detained.
The incident might have been swept under the carpet, were it not for Tamika Fraser who realised that one of the men, Charles Caesar, who had gone “to catch his hand” with the other labourers, was unaccounted for.
Caesar, who incidentally is the sibling of a retired high-ranking police officer, had recently moved with his two under-aged children to the Line Path Community, and did menial jobs in an attempt to make ends meet.
Hours before his death, he had stripped 17 pointer brooms from the coconut palm, and had planned to go to the Skeldon Market on Saturday with the intention of selling the sweepers.
However, his semi-conscious body was discovered with a wound above his right foot, just before midnight at the Number 66 foreshore. Tamika Fraser had returned to the scene, with her brother Devon, after realising that Caesar was not accounted for.
The injured man was taken to the Skeldon Hospital where despite medical intervention, he succumbed to his injury.
It was after his death that Tamika Fraser returned to  the Springlands Police Station, having gone there earlier to post $10,000 station bail for each of the five men (driver and labourers), to report that Charles Caesar had died.
Initially, BASS officials did not mention to the police that shots were fired, and it was only after Fraser’s report that it was stated that one shot was fired.
However, when crime sleuths re-visited the scene at the Number 66 foreshore, two spent shells were discovered, although the gun taken to the Springlands Police Station showed one round of ammunition missing.
Meanwhile, Friday night’s shooting is reminiscent of the 2001 shooting of  Azad Bacchus, 41, his son Shazad Bacchus, 18, of Kim Jong IL Street, Race Course, Corriverton and his nephew Fadil Ally, 15, of Crabwood Creek, Skeldon, at the hands of BASS members.
The men were allegedly shot dead by members of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) at Corriverton following a dramatic sequence of events, including a raid on the Skeldon Hospital.
A police release at the time had stated that the three men were shot dead at Scotsburg, Upper Corentyne, Berbice, during an armed confrontation with BASS.
The incident at the time stemmed from Shazad Bacchus’s arrest by ranks of BASS. Bacchus had 26 bales of plastic bags.