A man who is accused of being involved in the recently carried out pirate attacks on Guyanese fishermen was on Friday remanded to prison by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly after he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts over attacks that occurred in 2015 and 2016 respectively.
Nakool Manohar, 39, of lot 143 Village Corentyne, is accused of carrying out a robbery on fishing vessel “Sir Narine” property of Danishwar Reddy called “Smallie” between April 1 to April 30, 2015 while being in the company of others, armed with guns and cutlasses.
Facts presented stated that Manohar along with the other men stole a 240 horsepower engine valued $1.8 million.
Manohar was also slapped with another charge which stated that between august 1- 31 2016 he also robbed Vikash Balkissoon of a fishing vessel valued $2.3 million.
The father of three was not required to plead to the indictable charges.
Defence lawyer Joel Edmond in a submission for bail told the court that his client operates ten fishing vessels and does not go out at sea. Edmond explained that his client is also willing to lodge his travel documents at the court while citing that these accusations happened three and two years ago respectively.
He further explained that his client has been cooperating fully with the police.
However, the police prosecutor objected to bail being granted, citing the serious nature of the offence and that the accused is the subject matter of several investigations in relation to the most recent pirate attacks which occurred off the Coast of Suriname and resulted in the death of five fishermen and the attempted murder of 15 others.
The matter was transferred to the Springland Magistrate’s Court for May 30.
Only recently Manohar’s brother, Somnauth Manohar was gunned down in Paramaribo. He was a Guyanese fishing boat owner, who was living and working in the neighbouring country.
It was reported that the man’s death stemmed from an ongoing dispute between Guyanese fishermen here and those residing in Suriname over fishing rights in Dutch waters.
Investigators are working on the theory that Manohar’s family may have planned the recent horrific attacks in retaliation and to avenge his death.
In fact, the man’s son was hauled in for questioning in Suriname, while his brother is among the three in custody here.
