Two Cuban nationals appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, facing charges of conspiracy to commit a felony in connection with a staged kidnapping scheme.
The defendants, 22-year-old Daikol Tartabull Rodriguez of Grove, East Bank Demerara, and 28-year-old Iban Martinez of North Road, Georgetown, were both remanded to prison. They were not required to enter a plea, and the case has been adjourned until June 22, 2026.
The arrests followed a police investigation into a photograph sent to Martinez’s father in the United States, which depicted Martinez with an apparent firearm inside his mouth, accompanied by a demand for money.
Acting on intelligence, authorities reviewed CCTV footage from Martinez’s North Road residence. This evidence directed investigators to a property on the East Bank of Demerara, where Martinez and several other individuals were discovered. During a search of the premises, police recovered an air pistol believed to be the weapon featured in the photograph.
Several individuals, including a police constable and other Cuban nationals, were detained and questioned as part of the investigation.
According to reports, Martinez confessed to investigators that the kidnapping was entirely fabricated. He admitted that the air pistol belonged to him and that he had requested another individual to photograph him with the weapon in his mouth. Martinez further acknowledged that he sent the image to his father to solicit US$1,500 under false pretenses.
