GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Three Guyanese soldiers found guilty of abducting a gold miner, stealing his money and killing him have been sentenced to hang.

Authorities said the men knew that Dweive Ramdas was carrying $80,000 in cash when they offered him a ride in their boat to cross a river, only to rob him and throw him overboard. He then drowned.

Witnesses who saw Ramdas board the boat called police after he was reported missing four years ago.

Police later recovered most of the money from relatives of the three soldiers, identified as Sherwyn Hart, Deon Greenidge and Devon Gordon.

They were sentenced late Tuesday and join more than 30 other convicts on death row. No one has been hanged in the South American country since 1997 as several appeals are pending.