According to usually reliable sources, a very senior officer at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Eve Leary, Georgetown received 25 calls — within a 24-hour period — from murdered bandit Kelvin Shivgobin, called Kelly, who was gunned down on May, 19 in Black Bush Polder backdam along with two accomplices.
This revelation comes after news broke that the phone numbers of four police officers from ‘B’ Division were found in Shivgobin’s phone. The initial information was released by whistleblowing Berbice ranks, who said their colleagues were being assisted by a senior officer within the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Now questions are swirling. Ranks want to know why Shivgobin called the senior officer 25 times just before he was gunned down; was this senior officer an informant for Shivgobin? Did that officer really risk his career for “cutbacks” from Shivgobin, who spent hours beating and terrorising his victims, which included children?
The Guyana Standard has been informed that the dead bandit not only made calls to the senior officer but also to a detective Lance Corporal in Berbice. It is suspected that Shivgobin used his links to evade lawmen.
Now police ranks in Berbice are asking Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan to intervene and order an independent probe.
The matter with the phone calls made by the dead bandit was supposed to be sent to the CID’s headquarter in Eve Leary for further investigation.
This means that at some point, the file will have to be passed to the senior officer who was contacted by Shivgobin and the whistleblowing ranks are worried that this officer might delete his number from the phone or damage the device.
For months, Shivgobin and his gang created havoc in Berbice and despite cries by residents for ranks from the Major Crimes Unit to work along with ranks in ‘B’ Division to solve some of the brutal robberies, nothing was done.
In 2015, when there was an upsurge in crime in that community, the then Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum had sent a team from the Major Crimes Unit, which saw a significant reduction in robberies and the dispersal of gangs.
Shivgobin was wanted for the double murder of the Samaroo brothers which occurred at Bush Lot village, East Berbice Corentyne on Old Year’s Night last.
