TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- As if the long, twisting tale of the horrific murder and dismemberment of a Canadian English teacher-turned drug dealer could not get bizarre enough, reports have surfaced that the man used his pet dog as a drug mule, reported ETtoday.
According to the ETtoday report, more details of 43-year-old Canadian English teacher Sanjay Ryan Ramgahan’s (顏柏萊) second life as a drug dealer have started to emerge. Before he married his Taiwanese wife, the article described Ramgahan has having a "healthy and sunny image very welcome among women." He dated a number of Taiwanese women, who he would ask to help him buy scooters because he claimed he was unable to as a foreigner.
Ramgahan eventually amassed a collection of five to six scooters, which instead of riding, he reportedly used them to stash the illegal drugs he was selling, rather than store them in his home. Because the scooters were purchased under the names of his Taiwanese friends, police would have a harder time tracing the drugs to him if they discovered the stashes.
Anyone who wanted to buy more than 100 grams of marijuana from Ramgahan would make an appointment to go to a location where one his scooters was parked. They would then take the drugs from the scooter and would then leave the money inside the scooter.
Ramgahan would later pick up the money from the scooter without needing to worry about the police discovering their illicit transaction.
Last October, Ramgahan went camping and swimming with his wife, who was surnamed Yen (顏) and went by the handle "Cat Diamond," at Shenmi (mystery) Beach in Yilan County's Nan'ao Township, but she tragically drowned after being "swept away by waves." After his wife's death, Ramgahan fixated on finding his two pet dogs, which also disappeared when the waves struck.
Happier times with Spongy (left), Ramgahan (center), Lulu (right). (Facebook image)
Drug dog
Ramgahan offered an NT$100,000 reward for the recovery of either of his missing dogs, "Spongy" and "Lulu." The latter was found, and it seems it was from this point that the dog began serving as both his "accomplice" and a "tool."
According to the report, customers would contact Ramgahan via a messaging app and arrange to meet where he normally walked his dog at Zhongzheng Riverside Park in New Taipei's Yonghe District. Ramgahan would then place marijuana into small bag and tie it to Lulu.
At the appointed time, Ramgahan would appear to be walking Lulu as he was known to do, and his customers would pose as passersby who thought the dog was cute and pretend to play with her. At this moment, the customer would remove the marijuana from the bag and then insert the payment inside.
In this way, the transaction could be completed "naturally," thus avoiding suspicions of anything untoward taking place. Ramgahan is said to have chosen the riverside park because it was a wide-open space and he could clearly see all the people around him.
Little did he know that this would be the scene of his ultimate, ghastly demise.
In May of this year, Taipei police found foreigners to be in possession of marijuana in a nightclub and traced the origin of the drug to Ramgahan. He was then arrested in Yonghe District for possession of more than 200 grams of marijuana.
After being leveled with drug charges, several of Ramgahan’s clients suspected he began working as a police informant and had started to betray their drug deals to the authorities, according to media reports. After becoming engaged in heated disputes with Ramgahan over drugs, two other dealers, 30-year-old African-American male Ewart Odane Bent and 37-year-old Israeli-American tattoo artist Oren Shlomo Mayer, also known as "Oz Diamond," allegedly plotted to set an ambush for him.
Lulu witnesses murder
Ramgahan’s phone records indicate someone demanded that they meet him in person where he routinely walked Lulu along the riverside park near Zhongzheng Bridge in New Taipei City's Yonghe District. Either having made the call themselves or with the help of another accomplice, Bent and Mayer allegedly rode bicycles to the area and lay in wait for him.
When Ramgahan arrived with Lulu, the men pounced on him and choked him with a metal wire, before hacking him with the machetes, according to the Apple Daily.
Lulu barked and tried to defend her owner, but one of the assailants swung at her with a machete, causing her to sustain a deep laceration to her nose. Nevertheless, Lulu was able to run home, where the following day she would help guide two of Ryan’s friends to find the body.
After not responding to phone calls from friends who planned to meet with him to play video games that afternoon, two friends of Ramgahan, a "mixed race" (混血兒) man surnamed Hsu (許) and an American man, identified as Zachary Lott, set out to try to find him, reported Apple Daily.
When they arrived at his home, they found Lulu, wandering around outside, with lacerations on her nose and bleeding profusely.
Lulu finds her owner
Given that he frequented the river near Zhongzheng Bridge, the two men took the dog with them to try to search for him there. As they walked along the riverbank, the men say that Lulu picked up the owner's scent and led them to a headless and limbless body lying in a puddle next to the river.
Terrified at the grisly sight, the men closely inspected the torso, and they noticed that the "clothing that Ryan often wore." The frightened men then alerted the police.
While being questioned by police, Lott was asked to return to the scene to view the severed head that was found in one of the bags, and he confirmed that it was indeed his deceased friend.
New leash on life
Facebook post searching for Lulu's whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Hsu decided take Lulu with him back to the riverside park, however as he exited the police station, frightened by the mob of reporters and onlookers, Lulu broke free of her leash and ran away. Afterwards, enthusiastic netizens shared information about the missing dog on social media and a search began.
Fortunately, Lulu was found near Dehe Road in Yonghe District at midnight and a civic organization sent him to the veterinarian for treatment and is seeking a new home for the dog, reported Apple Daily.
