A Tuschen Housing Scheme businessman has been charged with receiving stolen articles and granted bail in the sum of $300,000, as police continue investigating the theft of copper cables from the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge.
Mustafid Pashaw, called “Mustaf,” 51, of East Bank Essequibo, was charged contrary to Section 237(1) of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01. He was arrested on Wednesday in relation to the offence, which allegedly occurred on the Bharrat Jagdeo Demerara River Bridge between Thursday, August 27, 2026, and Friday, August 28, 2026.
Pashaw appeared on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court #5 before Magistrate Faith McGusty, where the indictable charge was read to him. He was not required to plead. He was granted bail on condition that he reports to the Ruimveldt Police Station on the third Friday of every month, and the matter was adjourned to October 2.
The investigation widened the same day, when a 52-year-old man was also arrested after police found two pieces of copper wire suspected to be linked to the theft. He was taken into custody on Wednesday at about 10:20pm, after police ranks, acting on information from the ongoing investigation, searched a location at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo. The copper wire was photographed and lodged as part of the investigation.
Police said detectives in Regional Police Division #4 ‘B’ are investigating the alleged theft of 90 feet of 4/350 KCMIL copper cable, valued at approximately $1,620,000, from the bridge on the East Bank Demerara, sometime between midnight on August 23 and 9am on September 1.
The bridge is equipped with LED lights attached to steel poles along its high span, powered by a generator beneath the bridge and used to display various colours, and the lights were last operated on August 23. At about 6:30pm on August 31, an electrical maintenance engineer attempted to illuminate the bridge in the colours of Trinidad and Tobago’s national flag in observance of that country’s Independence Anniversary, but only the lights on the northern side were functioning.
When the engineer and his team inspected the southern side at approximately 9am the following day, they discovered the copper cables had been cut and removed from the metal trunking box.
The matter was reported to the Providence Police Station at about 9:30am, and detectives visited, photographed and processed the scene.
