DAYS after the multimillion-dollar armed robbery at Kaieteur News, seven men, were, on Friday, hauled before the Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan and remanded to prison for their alleged roles in the crime.
The alleged mastermind, Ryan Wharton, 33, a former Research Assistant at Kaieteur News; Joshua Junor, 35, a former Security Guard at Kaieteur News; Lemuel Grant, 23; Harry Stongster; Ivor Belingie called “WildLife”; 40-year-old Collis Haywood and 35-year-old Kevin France were all arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

Wharton, Junor, Grant, Stongster and Belingie were charged for robbery under arms which alleged that between October 9-10, 2022, at lot 24 Saffon Street, Georgetown, while being armed with a gun, they robbed Kaieteur News owned Glenn Lall of $38.8 million, a Republic Bank cheque valued $9.1 million, USD $9,360 (approximately G$1,872,000), a .32 Taurus pistol valued $350,000, ammunition valued $480,000, a firearm case valued $25,000 with two handles valued $10,000 and six magazines valued $60,000.

It is further alleged that during the robbery, the men also robbed two of the newspaper employees, Noel Junior of $5000 and Wayne Little of one cellular phone worth $44,000.
The men pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Police Prosecutor Assistant Superintendent of Police, Neville Jeffers, objected to the five defendants being released on bail since they allegedly confessed to the crime under caution and provided investigators with the details of the roles they played during the crime.

Jeffers further told the court that investigation revealed that Wharton allegedly began plotting the heist a week before it was committed.
During the bail application address, Grant’s attorney, Eusi Anderson told the court that his client has co-operated with the police during the investigation.

According to Anderson, the only role Grant played was innocently lending his motorcar to his cousin, Wharton, who ended up allegedly using it in the robbery.
Among other things, the attorney said his client has a “solid alibi” as when the crime was allegedly committed, he was at the “Outside” bar at MovieTowne “partying” with friends.

Anderson told the court that he will get the CCTV footages from the bar to clear his client.
However, the Chief Magistrate, based on the seriousness of the crime and in the interest of public safety remanded Grant and his four co-accused, to prison until November 10.

Meanwhile, Haywood and France were separately arraigned for gun and ammunition possession charges which stemmed from the alleged robbery.
Haywood was charged for having a .32 ammunition along with 210 matching rounds in his possession on October 10, without being the holder of a firearm licence at the time.

He pleaded not guilty to the two charges.
France was charged for having a 9 mm pistol along with 10 matching rounds in his possession when he was not the holder of a firearm licence. The offence was allegedly committed at East Ruimveldt.
He too denied the two charges.

The Chief Magistrate remanded both men to prison until November 9.
Police said that investigators managed to crack the case in less than 48 hours, after they arrested Wharton and his alleged accomplices- one of whom is Junor, who was a security guard on duty at the media outlet at the time of the robbery. The robbery occurred during the wee hours of Monday, October 10.

In a press release issued hours after the robbery, the police said that the incident occurred around 01:15 hours, when three men in a gold-coloured Spacio motor car, registration number unknown, stormed the building through an eastern door on the bottom flat and held security guards Noel Junior, 63 and Junor, and Wayne Little, a 20-year-old Graphic Designer, at gunpoint.

The three employees were taken to an office where they were instructed to lie on the ground.
Police said Noel was robbed of $5,000 cash; Junor, a Samsung S7 cellphone valued at $40, 000 and Little was robbed of a $44,000 cellphone.

One of the suspects remained with the victims while his accomplices went straight to the Accounts Department which is located on the upper flat of the building.
“The door was secured with a Yale padlock which was wrenched off by the suspects. The lock on one of the desk drawers inside the Accounts Department was also broken off. Under the said desk there was a small safe with an undisclosed amount of cash which the suspects took. The suspects spent about five minutes in the building, exited through the front door and escaped in the said motor car in a southern direction,” the police release stated.

Police investigators reviewed the company’s CCTV camera footage, but due to the face masks that the suspects were wearing, it was difficult to identify the bandits.
The next day, the police managed to recover the firearm, ammunition, and other items were also in the stolen safe.

It was explained that the stolen cash was divided into four and the clothing worn by the gunmen and the fake number plate that was on the Spacio were burnt shortly after the robbery.
One .32 Taurus pistol, 210 live .32 rounds of ammunition, 71 live 9mm ammunition, five 9mm magazines, two .32 magazines, one pistol (Glock) case, one holster and three hand grips were placed into a black strap haversack and allegedly given to Haywood, the police said in a release.

Detectives were later led to Haywood’s home where he allegedly handed over the .32 pistol and 210 matching rounds, which are the property of Lall, the owner of Kaieteur News. France was later arrested with the 9mm pistol and matching rounds.

Wharton allegedly placed his share of the money into a plastic bag, along with his cell- phone, and took it to his “child-mother” for her to keep. He allegedly told her that “he won the money from Superbet.” Police made contact with the womaan who handed over $3.5 million.

Another accused handed over $2,667,900 along with US$685 (approximately G$137,000), the release said.
According to the police, ranks were taken to a trench at Cane View Avenue, South Ruimveldt Gardens where the stolen safe was recovered.