Police on Thursday detained one of Ricardo Rodrigues’ main security operatives and issued a wanted bulletin for a city resident in connection with the October 15 gunning down of the assocciate of convicted drug lord, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.
“Mark De Abreu is wanted by the police for questioning in relation to murder committed on Ricardo Rodrigues,” states the Guyana Police Force in a wanted bulletin.
Police say De Abreu is of mixed ancestry, fair and medium built. His last known address is 66 Broad Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.
Senior police sources say that Rodrigues” chief of security surrendered to police on Thursday in the company of a lawyer and he has been detained. Police are working on the theory that the security officer was not with Rodrigues at the time of the shooting.
Investigators do not believe that De Abreu was the shooter but are working on the theory that he knows the motive for killing Rodrigues.
Investigators said Rodrigues would very rarely move around without the security personnel and so they want to know why on that day and time he was not by his side.
One theory is that Rodrigues had obtained a large quantity of cocaine from another group and that the chief of security was allegedly contacted and notified that Rodrigues would have been eliminated if the transaction had not been completed.
De Abreu’s name was mentioned in a June 19,2007 United States embassy cable, published by Wikileaks. The cable referred to an anonymous letter to the then Police Commissioner threatening to release audio and video surveillance recordings that link government and PPP figures to cocaine trafficking unless the Commissioner removes a corrupt senior police officer
“The principal motivation of the letter seems to be displeasure that (redacted name of officer) is assisting Venezuelan-based Guyanese narco-trafficker Maxwell “Lunkie” Melville in his struggle with Mark De Abreu to take control of Roger Khan’s narco-trafficking empire.
Lunkie is himself wanted for allegedly killing Marlon De Abreu several years ago on Camp and Regent Streets. Lunkie subsequently escaped from the Georgetown Prison and has not been recaptured since.