As police continue their investigation into the murder of Brazilian dredge owner Antonio Da Silva, more information has become available revealing that one of the suspects was a former employee of the deceased.
Da Silva, a 36-year-old Brazilian national working in a Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) mining camp was brutally slaughtered by cross-border bandits armed with rifles and handguns, in a brazen attack in the early hours of Wednesday morning. The robbery saw the gunmen carting off a quantity of raw gold.
According to the Police, their initial reports had “indicated that several persons were shot during the heinous act, however [our] investigation has thus far ascertained that only the deceased suffered gunshot wounds fatally and a few workers sustained minor scrapes and cuts when they fled the Camp during the night.”
According to preliminary reports, the brazen incident lasted for some eight hours – from 17:45h Tuesday afternoon and ended 02:00h Wednesday morning. It is reported that a gang of about six to eight armed men attacked the mining camp, bound the deceased along with several of his workers and ransacked the camp.
Moreover, the Force detailed in a release that “all the suspects spoke Portuguese.”
It is believed that after rumbling through the camp, the bandits escorted Da Silva to his worksite and swiftly removed an undisclosed amount of raw gold. Reports are that the bandits then took Da Silva about 500 metres from the site and shot him several times before making good their escape.
This publication learnt that upon hearing the rapid gunfire, one of the persons in Da Silva’s camp was able to flee and ended up at another mining camp. It was there that the worker relayed information as to what transpired.
Several Police ranks were dispatched to Akaiwanna early Wednesday morning to investigate the man’s murder. According to the Police on Thursday, the “team dispatched from Police Headquarters is still in the area and is being assisted by Friendly Forces.”
Moreover, the Force placed on record its profound appreciation for the invaluable aerial assistance provided by the proprietor of a mining company that facilitated their quick ascension to the Region 7 mining camp on Wednesday.
This latest attack comes just two months after three miners – Vernon Eudoxie, 55; Cologne Solomon, 23; and Samuel Moses, 19, of Port Kaituma – were all killed when their camp at Imataka on the Venezuelan side of the border was raided by four gunmen who had opened fire after demanding that the miners turn over their valuables.
Other miners were also injured in that attack. Before that Imataka slaughter, there were incidents at two gold mining camps in Region Seven which were raided and the occupants were severely beaten by foreign speaking gunmen who robbed the respective miners of their gold and valuables.
