Two men charged with murdering ex-cop, gun-related offences

Two men are set to appear before a Siparia magistrate on Tuesday charged with the murder of businessman and former policeman Syed Mohammed, 46, and other gun-related offences.

On Monday, the police charged Marcus Uriah Jacob, 35, a handyman from Princes Town, and Daniel Harroo, 28, a labourer of Orange Valley in Couva, with the offences.

A police statement on Tuesday said detective PC Vishal Ramoutar of the Homicide Bureau of Investigations (Region III) laid the charges after receiving advice from the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore Paul.

The accused men were also jointly charged with having a gun and ammunition and having the gun and ammunition with intent to endanger lives.

Jacob faced an additional charge of driving a car with false number plates. PC Deena, of the Emergency Response Patrol Unit (ERP) Southern Division, laid the charge.

At around 9.15 am on December 12, Mohammed was in the front yard of his home at Katwaroo Trace, Penal. A white Nissan Versa car drove from the street’s dead end and stopped where near where he was standing.

A gunman got out of the car and shot Mohammed several times.

Mohammed fell and died and the gunman returned to the car which sped out of the street.

ERP police received a report of the shooting and quickly responded. At around 9.30 am, PCs Deena and Vialva, intercepted the car along Debe Trace, Debe. they searched the car, found a Glock 17 pistol with six rounds of 9mm ammunition and arrested the two accused men.

The police said Ramoutar, together with an "investigative team" from the bureau continued enquires.

Insp Aslim Hosein supervised the investigations which acting Supt Sean Dhillpaul led.