Pharmacist Killed: Aranguez Hot, Call for Police Post

By Prior Beharry

MERE hours after a CARICOM symposium on crime ended at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain on Tuesday, a pharmacist was fatally shot outside his workplace in Aranguez.

Cheval Ramjattan, of Tacarigua, was wounded in the carpark next to his pharmacy Pills and Potions at Madeo’s Mini Plaza at the corner of Henry Street and Aranquez Main Road around 8.30 pm. He was accosted by bandits, police said.

He died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope where he was being treated for a wound to his abdomen.

Ramjattan’s murder came after a home invasion on April 8 at Ramlal Street where a teenaged boy was beaten. Police killed Rekel Rahim Mason, of Eastern Quarry, Laventille, after they intercepted a getaway vehicle on the day of the home invasion.

Following the incident, police have charged a 14-year-old boy of Block 22 in Laventille, Sendell Neptune, 27, of Kerr Trace, Laventille, and Trevor Barton, 19, of Nelson Street, Port of Spain.

They were charged after extensive investigations by detectives of the Barataria Criminal Investigations Department, a release from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service stated.

Earlier on Tuesday, a businessman was robbed of $100,000 at Boundary Road Extension, not far from the Pills and Portions Pharmacy.

Ramcharan Baldeo, the owner of the mini plaza which housed Pills and Potions, told AZP News that he was calling for a mobile police post to be set up in Aranguez.

He also owns Madeo’s Vege Mart and Puja Store was was going to open a fast food outlet in the same plaza but was now having second thoughts.

Baldeo said he usually closes his business at 7 pm and was at home a short distance away doing his evening devotion when he heard gunshots.

He said his sister told him that there was a shooting at the plaza and when he went he saw the police and four spent shells in the carpark.

Baldeo said Ramjattan, who was very hard working and had a very pleasant disposition, did not deserve to die like that.

He said Ramjattan’s wife who owned a beauty saloon in El Socorro would usually pick him up after work.

At the end of the Regional Symposium: Violence as a Public Health Issue-The Crime Challenge, CARICOM issued a communique declaring war on illegal guns and called on the United States to take action to stop the illegal exportation of guns and ammunition into the Caribbean.

The 15-point plan included a ban on assault weapons in the region, except for security forces and sporting competitions.

Speaking at the end of the symposium, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said he was not averse to the death penalty.