Roopnarine Robbed of $53,000

Sahadeo Roopnarine, a 34-year-old businessman from French Guiana, was on his way to the Free Trade Zone in Colon this morning when thieves robbed him of approximately $53,000.

Three men in a Honda 4×4 intercepted the tourism taxi van in which Roopnarine was traveling and threatened him at gunpoint near the Armando Dely Valdes soccer stadium.  TVN Noticias reports that the thieves also thought to steal the taxi drivers car keys and some documents.

A distressed Roopnarine reported the incident to the local Judicial Investigation office, and police are investigating.

UPDATE:  Mauricio Nelson, chief of the National Police in Colon, said the taxi driver failed to follow security protocol.  If he had done things right, he would have called the Tourism Police about the trip and told them about the amount of money Roopnarine was carrying.  Chief Nelson also said that the route the taxi took was one that avoided police checkpoints.