In a recent development in Guyana, law enforcement authorities have taken two individuals into custody in connection with the high-value theft of heavy-duty copper cable from the iconic Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge (BJDRB), a key infrastructure asset in the country. The breakthrough in the investigation came after the first suspect, a 39-year-old day labourer, led investigators to the scrap metal dealer who he admitted sold the stolen material, senior police officials confirmed Thursday.
Wendell Blanhum, Deputy Police Commissioner and head of the Guyana Police Force’s Criminal Investigations Department, confirmed to local media that both the labourer and the 52-year-old scrap dealer are currently in police custody as the investigation continues. The labourer was first taken into custody in the early hours of Wednesday night, after bridge patrols found him on BJDRB property carrying a specialized cutting tool. He was disguised in standard work safety gear including a protective helmet and a high-visibility reflective vest, a ruse investigators believe he used to convince passersby and bridge staff that he was an authorized contractor working on the bridge.
Acting on the information the detained labourer provided, police executed coordinated cordon-and-search operations at two linked locations: a property at 93 Sussex Street in Albouystown, Georgetown, and a secured storage yard attached to the dealer’s private residence in Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo. No stolen cable was recovered at the Albouystown site, but investigators uncovered two segments of copper cable matching the specifications of the material stolen from the bridge at the Tuschen storage bond.
When questioned by detectives, the scrap dealer admitted he had purchased 30 pounds of copper from the labourer the previous week for a total of GY$15,000, far below the market value of the stolen cable. However, he claimed he could not recall the exact dimensions of the copper he purchased and told investigators he had no knowledge of where the labourer had obtained the material.
Blanhum told Demerara Waves Online News that the labourer has formally confessed to the theft, admitting he stole 90 feet of high-capacity four-conductor cable, with each conductor rated at 350 thousand circular mils. The stolen infrastructure material has an official estimated value of GY$1.62 million, more than 100 times the amount the labourer sold it for. Blanhum added the suspect told investigators he carried out the theft over a roughly week-long window between midnight on August 23, 2026, and 9 AM on September 1, 2026, to get cash to buy food and illegal drugs.
The stolen cable powers the bridge’s distinctive decorative LED lighting system, which is mounted on steel poles along the structure’s high span and powered by an on-site generator located beneath the bridge. The LED system is regularly used to display custom colour schemes to mark regional and national events, and it was last confirmed to be fully operational on August 23, the same day the theft began. Bridge management did not notice the theft until August 31, when the system failed to light up one half of the bridge in the national colours of Trinidad and Tobago for the CARICOM neighbour’s independence anniversary celebration. The investigation into the theft and recovery of the remaining stolen cable is still ongoing.