The Guyana Police Force is investigating a number of reports of stolen Toyota Fielder Wagons which are suspected to be used in the execution of various crimes.
Commissioner of Police (acting) Nigel Hoppie revealed that the investigation is being carried out by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
“We recently noticed that a lot of Fielder Wagons were being stolen and so the investigation is ongoing to ascertain who would be behind this,” Hoppie told the media at the sidelines of an event at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Thursday.
Based on reports from the police, taxi drivers are mostly targeted; in other instances, the vehicle is used as a getaway car. A Fielder Wagon belonging to Tyrone Pires, a 44-year-old taxi driver of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara was reported stolen and was later found in the possession of two men.
The two men – Leon Lewis, 30, a salesman and Ravin Singh, 24, a mechanic – were arrested and remanded to prison in January 2022.
In October 2021, a technician who stopped in Tucville Terrace, East La Penitence, Georgetown, to urinate was robbed of his Fielder Wagon along with a quantity of cash and electronics.
A bus driver and a mechanic, both 35, were also arrested in August 2021 for allegedly selling a Toyota Fielder Wagon with a fraudulent identification mark and tampered chassis number for $1.7 million. The two men had also made attempts to bribe a police rank to forego an investigation.
In July of 2021, a 46-year-old man was also robbed of his Fielder wagon, a cell phone, his silver chain and band. The man was robbed while driving along Leopold Street in Georgetown.
In some instances, the vehicle was used as a getaway car as in the case of a robbery that occurred at a Superbet outlet in Bladen Hall, East Coast Demerara in August 2021.
Four persons were robbed by two men armed with guns; the suspects escaped in a stolen Fielder Wagon along with several electronics and cash.
But the investigators have also managed to recover a few of the stolen vehicles.
A taxi driver from Parika, East Bank Essequibo had his Fielder Wagon stolen at gunpoint in August 2021; vehicle recovered was later recovered but his mirrors and music set were missing. The vehicle was found at Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.
Another stolen wagon was also recovered by police in Region Six (Corentyne-Berbice). The vehicle was stolen from a 31-year-old security guard in October 2021.
