A 28-year-old Guyanese national who is wanted in Canada for attempted murder among other crimes and had been placed on the Interpol’s “Wanted” list was on Thursday arrested at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) while trying to secure a driver’s licence.
Benvolio Francois Caitanya was reportedly at the GRA’s Camp Street office location and in the process of securing a licence when the computerised security systems picked up the alert that the man had been on the Interpol list and was ‘red-flagged’.
Interpol’s site, which contains a “Wanted” list, has Caitanya’s birthday documented as December 21, 1991, and Georgetown, Guyana as his place of birth.
Canadian authorities also issued a wanted bulletin for the man in relation to “unauthorised possession of a firearm, pointing a firearm, possession of a weapon, use firearm during commission of an indictable offence, discharge firearm with intent to wound, endanger life, conspiracy to commit murder, occupy motor vehicle with a firearm, attempted murder and failure to comply recognised”.
In September, he had been charged with another man for conspiracy to forge documents and uttering forged documents but Caitanya was charged under a different surname.
The Court was told back then that in February and September of 2019, the two conspired to forge a driver’s licence in the name of “Benvolio Valenski”.
He, along with his co-accused, was also charged with forging a Guyana national identification (ID) card and was also charged with presenting false documents to an officer at the Central Immigration and Passport Office in order to obtain a new passport under a new name of Roy Anthony Sewnarine.
Caitanya was granted bail in the sum of $300,000 while his co-accused was granted bail in the sum of $200,000.
However, at the time that he was charged and placed before the Court and also had his pre-trial liberty granted, local law enforcement officials were unaware that he was an international fugitive.
According to a source in the Guyana Police Force (GPF), Caitanya is presently in the GPF’s custody as investigations continue.
