Guyana Police Capture Main Suspect in Deadly Bomb Blast

GEORGETOWN, Guyana - Guyana's police on Tuesday said that a Venezuelan national, identified as the main suspect in the bombing incident that resulted in the death of a six-year-old child on Sunday night, had entered the country illegally.

Home Affairs Minister, Oneidge Walron (center) with members of the police and military at the joint press conference on Tuesday eveningHead of the Criminal Investigations Department, Deputy Police Commissioner, Wendell Blanhum, told a news conference that the suspect, identified as Daniel Alexander Ramirez Peodomo, had indicated that he brought the explosive device into the country hours earlier.

“Among other things that he mentioned to us is that he brought the device in from Venezuela to Guyana. He also indicated that the device had a switch which he activated when he exited the vehicle which was parked within the vicinity of the gas station,” Blanhum told reporters.

Blanhum said Peodomo,  and a Venezuelan accomplice arrived in Guyana illegally by boat Sunday morning, but declined to immediately divulge the motive for the attack that resulted in the death of Soraya Bourne and injury to four others.

The police officer also refused to provide any information about the type of explosive that was used.

Police could not say whether Peodomo was militarily trained, but pointed out that he was a member of the ‘R’ gang associated with the feared Sindicato gang.   He said information about the suspect was shared with the Caracas Bureau of INTERPOL.

Blanhum said nine persons, including four Venezuelans, were in custody since the investigations began on the night of the incident.

Police had earlier announced a five-million-dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of the main suspect, whom the police had described as a Spanish-speaking national.

Home Affairs Minister, Oneidge Walrond, on Tuesday night said the authorities will be pursuing the death penalty for Peodomo.

“The penalty for terrorism under the section quoted by the Commissioner (of Police Clifton Hicken) is death, and we will be pursuing that,”  she said, telling reporters ”we will be making a case for the death penalty”.

Walrond said she is sure President Irfaan Ali,  who is in Saudi Arabia, will greenlight such actions.

“One life, Guyanese life, is still too much. I am absolutely sure that our Commander in Chief, our President, will sign off on that order (for the death penalty),” she said.

Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken said police used government’s surveillance cameras that are hooked up to regional command centres to locate the prime suspect at Vergenoegen Side Line Dam, East Bank Essequibo.

Despite public reservations that the picture of the suspect did not match those that had been released in wanted bulletins, the police officers sought to reassure the public that they had their man.

Hicken said soldiers would be joining police in intensified patrols, in the wake of Sunday night’s incident; the third such bombing for the year.

Blanhum did not comment on possible links between the incidents in May and last Sunday, saying that the matter was before the court. A Guyanese man was arrested because he allegedly aided two Spanish-speaking men whose pictures were circulated in wanted bulletins but they were never arrested.