The LatAm Brief

One email, every weekday morning. What moved in Latin American markets, politics and expat life.

Yesterday’s subject line: “Brazil votes Sunday: Lula 45%, Flávio 40%, and the 50% line”

Free. We send a confirmation link first — nothing arrives until you click it. Unsubscribe with one click in any edition. If you stop opening us for 30 days we stop sending by ourselves, as we assume the interest is no longer there. See our privacy policy. We never share your email.

GUYANA · SURINAME · CRIME

A Guyana court has charged a 33-year-old man with abducting two missing Surinamese men who set out by boat on 29 August. Jimmol Murphy appeared at the Fort Wellington Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 1 October 2026, and was granted bail.

The men have not been found, and the police have not said what happened to them. The case centres on a family from Vigilance, a village east of Georgetown, the capital.

Boats waiting to carry passengers from Suriname to Guyana, photographed in October 2016. Photo: -JvL-/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The charge

Murphy, of Vigilance, is accused of abducting Siegello Lorenzo van Dalen, 28, of Saramacca, and Derryl Danillo Bont, 29, of Wanica. Both districts lie west of Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital.

The offence allegedly took place at Rosignol, on the west bank of the Berbice River, on 29 August. Waterkant described Murphy as a driver and contractor.

Magistrate Shareefah Parks granted bail of GY$1 million (about US$4,800), Demerara Waves reported. Murphy appeared by video link and was not required to plead to the indictable charge.

He must hand over his passport and report to the police Major Crimes Unit every Friday, the Surinamese news site Waterkant reported. The case continues on 19 October.

The maximum penalty is a fine of GY$750,000 (about US$3,600) and five years in prison. Conversions use the Bank of Guyana’s 1 October rate of about 209 Guyana dollars per US dollar.

The defence

Murphy’s lawyers, led by Siand Dhurjon, said he was “in between Houston and Greater Georgetown at the material time”. Houston is a community on the southern edge of Georgetown, not the American city.

They argued that investigators had not contacted witnesses who could confirm that alibi. They also said the two men “might have happily left Guyana through its porous borders”.

Dhurjon was assisted by the lawyers Mark Waldron and Meshon Persaud, Demerara Waves reported.

How the case unfolded

The two men left their homes on 28 August in a Toyota Vitz heading for Nickerie, Suriname’s western district on the border. On 29 August they were seen leaving the car at Clara Sluice to travel to Guyana by boat.

Suriname’s police and Guyana’s police reported them missing on 19 September. A day later Guyana’s deputy police commissioner, Wendell Blanhum, said there had been no sightings in Guyana.

“Searches were conducted and several persons were questioned. No useful information was obtained,” the Guyana police said at the time.

Police later said the men “were last seen alive when they joined a white vehicle registered in his wife’s name”. The vehicle belonged to the wife of Mark Cromwell, Murphy’s brother, Demerara Waves reported.

On 29 September residents of Vigilance blocked a police search of Cromwell’s house with burning debris. A lorry was set on fire.

Officers met hostile resistance when they tried to put out a fire threatening utility poles, Kaieteur News reported. Cromwell’s wife and brother were held in custody.

Who Mark Cromwell is

Cromwell, known as “Demon”, is a former policeman. In June 2025 the US Treasury placed him under sanctions over alleged cocaine trafficking.

The Treasury accused him of moving tons of cocaine to the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. He has not been charged in Guyana, according to Demerara Waves, and he is not charged in this case.

What comes next

Murphy returns to court on 19 October, while police in both countries continue to search for the two men. The two men have now been missing for more than a month.

Police in both countries have asked anyone with information to come forward; in Guyana the emergency number is 911.

A charge is not a conviction, and Murphy has not entered a plea. The reports reviewed by The Rio Times do not mention any charges in Suriname, where the men lived.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who are the missing Surinamese men?

Siegello Lorenzo van Dalen, 28, of Saramacca, and Derryl Danillo Bont, 29, of Wanica. They were last seen on 29 August at Clara Sluice in Nickerie, preparing to cross to Guyana by boat.

Who has been charged?

Jimmol Murphy, 33, of Vigilance, East Coast Demerara, was charged on 1 October 2026 with abducting the two men at Rosignol on 29 August. His lawyers say he was elsewhere at the time; he was granted GY$1 million (about US$4,800) bail.

Have the men been found?

No. As of 2 October 2026 police in Guyana and Suriname had not found the men or said what happened to them.

How do people cross between Suriname and Guyana?

The official route is the ferry across the Corentyne River. Small boats also cross from the Nickerie area outside the official route, as the two men planned to do.

Sources: Demerara Waves, Demon/Diamond’s brother charged with abduction of Surinamese men, 1 October 2026, Waterkant, 33-jarige man aangeklaagd voor ontvoering van twee vermiste Surinaamse mannen, 2 October 2026, Demerara Waves, Vigilance villagers block search, 29 September 2026, Kaieteur News, Unrest at Vigilance after police arrest Mark Cromwell’s wife and brother, 29 September 2026, Demerara Waves, No sighting of missing Surinamese men in Guyana, 20 September 2026, Bank of Guyana, exchange rates as at 1 October 2026. All retrieved 2 October 2026.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error