The suspect was arrested

According to the first elements of the investigation, the suspect, a 20-year-old Brazilian, belongs to a group that robs clandestine gold mines.

The alleged shooter of a GIGN gendarme who was killed during an anti-illegal gold panning operation in Guyana in late March was arrested on Saturday, we learned from the Kane State Attorney.

The 20-year-old Brazilian man was arrested in the Guyana jungle after announcing his surrender, lawyer Yves Le Clair told AFP.

The alleged shooter was remanded in judicial custody before appearing before the Liberties and Detention Judge (JLD), who is to place him under a remand warrant.

According to the first elements of the investigation, the suspect belongs to a group that robs clandestine gold mines and is not a gold banner.

Killed during an operation against illegal gold panning

GIGN policeman Arnaud Blanc, 35, died while participating in an operation against illegal gold mining at a clandestine base called Dorlin, not far from Maribsaula in central Guyana.

Along with two other gendarmes, four soldiers and a nurse from the GIGN, he was “dropped by helicopter into the jungle to carry out an infiltration operation over 2 days to reach a logistics base” de miners, the gendarmerie told AFP.

The group was brutally assaulted by an armed band. After heavy exchanges of fire, gendarmerie of the GIGN antenna in Caen since 2019, the gendarmerie non-commissioned officer was shot.

The trial was opened by Kane’s prosecution for murder in an organized gang.