Fugitive deported from New York to face 2015 murder charge in Georgetown

Kanand Ojha, wanted for over a decade in connection with the 2015 killing of male sex worker Noel Luther, has been deported to Guyana from the United States.

Suspect in decade-old Georgetown murder returned to face justice

Kanand Ojha, wanted by Guyanese authorities for more than ten years in connection with the killing of male sex worker Noel "Nephi" Luther, arrived in Guyana from the United States on Friday and was immediately placed in police custody, Kaieteur News reports. Ojha is expected to appear before the court for the July 2015 murder of Luther, who was shot at the corner of Carmichael and Quamina Streets in Georgetown.

According to a release from the Government of Guyana, law enforcement authorities in Queens, New York — including the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, comprising US Marshals, members of Homeland Security, and ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations — arrested Ojha on Monday, September 8, 2025.

The government described the arrest as the result of sustained collaboration between the Guyana Police Force, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Attorney General's Chambers, and their counterparts in the United States under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters platform.

"Over the years, Guyana and the U.S. law enforcement agencies have strengthened their relationship and this has led to mutual cooperation in criminal investigations," the government release stated, adding that the arrangement had enabled the pursuit of fugitives across both jurisdictions. "This relationship will intensify in the future," it said.

The Guyana Police Force had issued a wanted bulletin for Ojha in July 2019, four years after Luther's death. Luther was shot once in the chest during a confrontation involving Ojha and his associate Ron "Andel" Forde. Forde was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2017 after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in connection with the killing.

Source: Kaieteur News