By Ivan Cairo
PARAMARIBO, Suriname, Nov 13, CMC – Police said Friday they had arrested the 31-year-old foster son of President Desi Bouterse as they continue their investigations into a robbery earlier this week that resulted in the deaths of two of the bandits and three others injured.
The Public Relations Department of the Suriname Police Force in a statement Police said that Romano Meriba was detained after he gave himself up to law enforcement officials and handed over to the Capital Offenses’ Department, the police unit which investigates serious crime including armed robbery, murder, drug trafficking and money laundering.
“Romano is believed to be a member of the gang that was involved in a robbery in Paramaribo-North”, the police statement noted, adding that Meriba became a suspect after preliminary investigations revealed that his vehicle was involved in the armed robbery.
On Monday, a businessman was robbed of a large sum of money and during a shoot-out with police units, including the SWAT Team, two of the robbers were shot dead while three others were seriously wounded. Two police officers also sustained non-life threatening injuries.
Meanwhile police say they have arrested three other suspects, including a local businessman.
The police said that during a search at a house in the Zorg en Hoop neighbourhood, detectives found a car belonging to the deceased bandit, Melvin Tob. Police also seized several fire arms and a motorbike.
Following the police shootout on Monday, Meriba appeared on a radio station answering claiming his innocence and that he had borrowed his vehicle to a friend who was moving into a new apartment.
But he told radio listeners he would not divulge his whereabouts on Monday when the robbery was taking place.
In 2005, Meriba was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the robbery and murder of a Chinese shop owner in 2002, whom he shot through the rear window after the man had jumped on the trunk of the getaway car.
Meriba was also sentenced for throwing a hand grenade in 2002 at the residence of Ruud Treffers, the then Dutch ambassador in Suriname.
He was granted a pardon in 2011, after Bouterse became president in August 2010.
