2006-08-nieuwsbronnen-engels

The man who succumbed to his injuries on Thursday evening was shot while at a property belonging to Paluba Chemicals in the Eccles Industrial Site during the bloody assault by a gang of gunmen two weeks ago.

Linden Evelyn, 38, of Sandy Babb Street, Kitty was, according to the police, working at the Paluba building, which is under construction in the Eccles Industrial Site.

Reports are that Evelyn was in the company of two other men when the gunmen who had just rampaged through the East Bank of Demerara village of Bagotstown approached them and shot at them. The other two men with him escaped.

However, Evelyn was shot in his stomach, police say. He was apparently in the wrong place at the wrong time while the gunmen indiscriminately fired their weapons during the rampage. Relatives had told Stabroek News that they could not say how Evelyn ended up in the hospital since when they learnt of the situation through the police he was not in a position to speak.

The others injured as a result of the bloody attack on the East Bank of Demerara village, included Damion Henry, 23, of 41 Norton Street, Bagotstown who received a gunshot wound to his rear while Corren Mc Dure, 27, of 34 Norton Street Bagotstown also received a gunshot wound.

Shopkeeper Wordsworth Grey lost his life when the gunmen, attempting to kick down the doors of Lot 31 Norton Street residents, turned their firepower in his direction as he questioned their actions. The gunmen then proceeded to the Kaieteur News printery in Eccles killing four of its pressmen by shooting them in the head as they lay on the floor of the printery. A fifth succumbed to gunshot wounds a few days later. (Stabroek News)

Lawyer projects:

Roger Khan will be back in Guyana within months

The Attorney defending Roger Shaheed Khan, who is in a U.S. jail facing charges that he conspired to import cocaine, yesterday threatened to take legal steps against politicians for making defamatory and libellous statements against his client.

Odai Ramischand of Trinidad said he arrived in Guyana on August 19 and it was brought to his attention that certain politicians, “and in particular those of the leadership of the party Alliance for Change” have made defamatory statements “against and in respect of the integrity and reputation” of his client.

“I warn and hereby give notice to these politicians and others who may be so inclined that I will swiftly and decisively issue and cause to be issued such legal and other requisite and necessary proceedings as may commensurate with the gravity of any violations of my client Shaheed Roger Khan’s integrity, reputation, human, constitutional and fundamental rights, freedom and liberty,” he said in a press statement.

Ramischand said his client does not want to do anything to impede or obstruct or in any way interfere in or with the democratic will of the people and the democratic process. He said his client has fought for the rule of law in Guyana, “contrary to the wishes of some politicians and their warped and despicable motives, ambitions and their egotistical aims and objectives.”

Ramsichand claimed to have spent the last two weeks daily taking statements from Khan. He said Khan’s team of lawyers will ensure that he will be back in Guyana “within a few months.” (Guyana Cronicle)

Both President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Home Affairs Gail Teixeira were full of praise for the Guyana Defence Force and the Guyana Police Force operations in the difficult Demerara and Berbice backlands over the last three weeks. Ms Teixeira described the operation in which eight suspected bank robbers were slain as "a very, very important victory" against the criminal networks that have spawned the crime scourge.

The eight men were killed while trying to escape from the security forces' dragnet in the Berbice backlands. They fled there after the daring daylight robbery on 11 August on the Demerara Bank and the Republic Bank in Rose Hall, 22km from New Amsterdam. In an earlier operation in the backlands of Belfield and Golden Grove villages about 29 km from Georgetown, on 29-30 July, another suspected bandit was killed.

On the Corentyne coast, the bandits seem to have been strangers to the region. Unfamiliar with the terrain and population, they were on the run, missed their boat, became lost and hungry, and were quickly cornered and killed. In other areas, though, the bandits are not so unprepared.

On the East Coast Demerara, according to an official press release, the bandits' camps "were well concealed in the heavily-forested backlands and had enough supplies of foodstuff to sustain its occupants for an extended period." The security forces found hundreds of rounds of ammunition for assault rifles, several hand-held radios, mobile telephones and camouflage clothing.

In the Cuyuni-Mazaruni in December last year, a ten-man gang of bandits attacked and robbed fourteen miners and diamond buyers at Barlow Landing. The lightly armed policemen from Enachu who were alerted about the incident confronted them at Eping Creek Mouth but, after a tame exchange of gunfire, the bandits escaped in the two boats.

No one can say just how many bandits - gangs of outlaws who subsist on plunder - are roaming the bushy backlands of the coastland and hinterland or how many pirates prey on fishermen in our waterways. What is certain is that over the past five years they have displayed the ability to leave their safe havens to commit crimes and to return undetected. It is evident that several separate specialised gangs are at work in different terrain and geographical settings. It is evident, too, that banditry and piracy have already become endemic in certain parts of the country.

The security forces have shown over the past five years or so, that they are not trained and equipped to eradicate this new type of semi-insurgency. Banditry is different from burglary and it will require a much more massive, long-term and continuous response than a few weekend outings.

It takes scores of trained soldiers and policemen to capture just a few bandits. It takes reconnaissance aircraft, river boats and all-terrain vehicles. It takes special clothing and equipment to withstand the rainy, swampy, muddy, bushy conditions. It also takes security forces which appreciate the need to capture suspects alive and to interrogate them to discover who are the masterminds behind their crimes.

It is much too early to declare 'mission accomplished' and to celebrate victory over banditry and piracy. (Stabroek News)

Acting Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene told members of the private sector yesterday that on Monday the police force would be at full strength to deal with any elections-related disturbances and he said voting by the disciplined services had gone smoothly aside from some minor glitches.

He noted that yesterday's voting was a test piece in the run-up to next Monday's polls. The force will be in line (fully mobilized) sometime this week.

"We consider today the test piece in the run-up to Monday. We have looked at the processes so far, examined the movement of ballot boxes, which we have had to escort, they arrived on time, the process started on time and so far the process is okay," Greene told a group of businessmen at a luncheon hosted by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce at Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel.

With regards yesterday's voting by the disciplined forces, Greene said that some officers turned up to vote and were told that their names were not on the list. He said that those ranks would be allowed to vote on Monday at which time those issues will be clarified. He said they had similar problems at the last elections and arrangements were made for the servicemen to vote on the day set aside for general voting.

There was also a problem in relation to the stamping of the ballot papers with a security code which was also clarified. Greene said that voting went well at the police stations, although acknowledging that early in the day there were some difficulties.

Meanwhile, on the police force's overall efforts for the elections, Greene told the gathering that from the time the ballot papers arrived in Guyana the boxes and their contents have been secured by the police.

He told the gathering that policemen are currently guarding the containers where the ballot papers are being stored. Greene said that there are several key holders so that before anyone can enter any of the containers the policemen on the ground have to see all the key holders first.

Giving a rundown of their task Greene said when the ballot papers and boxes are removed from containers police escorts would then see that they are dropped off at the various distribution centres across the country. He said at these centres the boxes and ballot paper remain guarded by ranks. From there, the boxes are taken to polling stations and then back to the distribution centre before finally being dispatched to the Guyana Elections Commis-sion (GECOM).

Greene said that they have identified all the polling stations and ranks will be dispatched to each location on elections day. "Our job is to provide security in the main. On that day the presiding officers are the ones who have to answer to any issue that might arise. We are for security and when the presiding officer says 6 pm the stations are to be closed on polling day, we will adhere to that." Ranks will be present at all polling stations. Notwithstanding election duties, Greene said the force will still have a reserve squad at all police stations.

He said in Georgetown there will be several riot units in case there was any disturbance. He said the force had deployed 1/3 of its strength during the disturbance at the Camp Street prison recently and since then they have been working with that. However, he asserted that later this week the force will be at full strength. "Our coverage on elections day will include the patrols in all divisions and response to riots or disturbance," the Acting Commissioner said.

Noting that they will continue to be guided by their principle of using minimum force during any disturbance, Greene said that they have several modes of operation, ranging from light to serious offences.

Speaking also at the luncheon, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Yesu Persaud urged citizens to go out early and cast their votes. Persaud said that businesses should allow their staff to do so by releasing them from duties. According to Persaud Guyana has gone through hell over the years. He said that elections over the past years have been dogged by street violence and unrest. "There is no reason why this country should go through this again," Persaud told the audience.

He said Guyana needs to achieve its potential and called on political parties to look inward and see what they can do to develop the nation. President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gerry Gouveia said that this election time is when the private sector should have a lot to say. He said never again would the private sector remain silent and allow Guyana to go back to the dark days.

Gouveia said that next week's elections would be very important to all Guyanese, noting that despite who wins, the country remains a rocket for development. Gouveia sees a lot of growth in the business community, pointing to the strides some persons have made. He said the 2007 Cricket World Cup will be another big occasion and the private sector would have to rise to the occasion. According to Gouveia security for business people remains a serious issue.

"But we have to be on the frontline of security awareness. We need to give support to our lawmen," Gouveia urged. He pointed out that businesses need to boost their own security, noting that there are ex-policemen who are willing to provide training for staff. Gouveia also announced that the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has advised its members to close off at 1 pm on elections day to allow workers to go and vote. He said, too, that they are trying to field some 2000 volunteers to work along with the Electoral Assistance Bureau (EAB). Gouveia said that the PSC and the GCCI would be working closely with the EAB on elections day. (Stabroek News)

Security experts believe that four heavily-armed criminal gangs are currently on the loose with at least one tied to drug lords and others bent on robbery and destroying lives. They said too that small gangs of four tend to spring up whenever there is a rise in criminal activity as the larger groups tend to be blamed for gun crimes during those periods.

One expert also said that one or two of the groups might be sympathetic to political parties, but there is no evidence to show that any party might be directly involved with the criminals. The experts, a crime specialist, a police detective and a former police officer requested that their names be left out of this story for security reasons. They said that much of the violence that has taken place so far might not be directly connected to the upcoming elections, but criminals are using the period of uncertainty to carry out their acts.

Armed criminal gangs have been a feature in most countries plagued with serious crime problems, Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira told TV 6 Trinidad in a recent interview. The minister did acknowledge that there was more than one gang roaming the streets.

Over recent years until last week, gangs have committed sensational robberies and killings and were able to melt away into the backlands and disappear. In the wake of the shooting to death of eight of the suspected bank robbers by the Joint Services last week and the recovery of eight of the stolen army AK-47 rifles, security experts have concluded that there are at least four well-armed gangs roaming the streets all of which work independently from each other and are based in various parts of the country. There are in addition a number of small gangs which commit armed robberies in and around the city,

According to the source, it has been determined that there is a Buxton/Agricola gang. This group comprised men of both villages and other communities and was seen as the most established of the four gangs. A number of ex-soldiers were members of this group, which from time to time undertook its own training. The Buxton gang was formed after the escape of five prisoners from the Camp Street jail, and since that time recruits have been drawn from Agricola and other communities. Sources in Buxton told Stabroek News on Friday that this unit had expanded its ranks and there were around 25-30 members at present.

Then there is a small gang recently put together which is based in Agricola. At least three members of this gang had a falling-out with their colleagues from the Buxton/Agricola unit. This faction is made up of mainly young men, most of whom are teenagers. The group is armed with handguns and a few rifles and has recently launched a campaign to acquire arms. Sources say it was this gang which carried out the attack on the East Bank recently, and was also responsible for the terror in Kaneville a week earlier when businessman Barbot Paul was shot dead.

There is a third gang, known as the 'Phantom Force,' which is being run by suspected drug dealers. It is not clear whether this gang commits robberies, but apart from watching over the interests of drug dealers it has been accused of killing a number of young men in the not-so-distant past.

Experts believe that a fourth gang seems to be in operation. According to sources the robberies at the two commercial banks in Berbice two weeks ago could have been committed by this group, eight of whose members were killed during confrontations with the Joint Services.

A senior police source said that initially investigators were working on the theory that the robbers were connected to the Buxton/Agricola faction. However, although two of the men were from Buxton it is still not clear whether those were members of the Buxton/Agricola gang or were working in another unit.

Sources in Buxton told Stabroek News that Albert Evans and Troy Sancho, two of the eight who were killed had been long-standing 'Talebans' (members of the Buxton gang). But other sources say that the two men could have been working for another group.

Minister Teixeira had told the media last Sunday that Rondel 'Fineman' Rawlins, a key figure in the Buxton gang, had been a participant in the bank robberies, however, an army source by implication countered this on Saturday telling this newspaper that only eight men carried out the attack and all eight of them were now dead. Rawlins is not numbered among the dead.

Relatives of Fitzgerald Koulen, another of the eight who were killed said that they had no knowledge of whether he was working for the Buxton gang, although he had a house in the neighbouring village, Annandale. Sources said that Koulen had spent most of his time on D'Urban Street.

Stabroek News was told that apart from Evans also called 'Doni' none of the other men who were killed was known to the police. "It means that either these men are new recruits of the expanded Buxton/Agricola gang or they are members of a totally different and new group," one security official said.

Meanwhile, a police detective told Stabroek News that according to information they had received, the members of the breakaway Agricola gang did not all live in the same village as the leader of the group. Speaking on their modus operandi the police source said that whenever they had an attack in mind, the leader would call up his members and they would meet and plan. The detective went on to say that intelligence suggested the group did not do contract killings, although they had been on a drive recently to acquire firearms.

Once an operation was planned, the gang members would assemble and be briefed by the leader. Two or three days in advance the location to be attacked would be surveyed and entry and exit routes located. On the night of the attack, the source said, the gang leader would collect everyone's cellular phones.

These would then be redistributed with each person receiving a different phone from the one they had before. This was done in order to prevent any leakage of information, so that if someone happened to call one of the members on his cell phone, whoever had that phone would simply tell the caller that the person was not available.

Stabroek News was also told by the detective that in the period prior to an operation, or even afterwards, members were usually not allowed to stray too far from the gang. Those who had reason to go to the toilet - in most cases urinating behind bushes - were accompanied in order to monitor what they were doing.

On the recent East Bank shootings, where five pressmen at Kaieteur News Eccles Industrial site printery were gunned down, and a Bagotstown businessman also slain, the detective said that there was some intelligence to suggest that the gang's aim was mainly to rob the Bagotstown businessman, Wordsworth Grey.

Stabroek News was told that the gunmen had actually attacked a group of gamblers at Bagotstown Public Road not too far from Grey's Norton Street, Bagotstown home. However, the police source said that on their way to Bagotstown that night they had been told that Grey was allegedly involved in cocaine trafficking and that he owned a shop and had a lot of money.

After robbing the gamblers, the gunmen went into Grey's yard and shot him. They then moved on to Eccles, but according to the detective, some intelligence indicated they had no intention originally of killing the pressmen. They had been on their way home when a gang member said that the guard at the printery usually carried a gun and they must go and collect it. However, when the gunmen invaded the printery everything went awry.

Julian De Grace, the security guard at the site was not armed at the time, and when he saw the gunmen he alerted the pressmen who ran to the back of the building and hid. The gunmen called them out and shot each of them in their heads and ran off. "They did not leave with the intention to kill; maybe they indeed wanted to rob the guard of his weapon, but from how I see it these men have become psychopaths, so killing is no longer a big thing to them.

They don't see it as anything, it is fun for them," the detective remarked. He said that human lives had become meaningless to these killers, "So it is easy for those men to kill and see it as nothing." The officer said that based upon what he had gleaned, the particular gang was on a mission to acquire weapons and money.

The officer said he thought that a similar plan was in place when they attacked businessman, Barbot Paul about a week before the Kaieteur News attack, and the intention was to rob Paul's shop and get his firearm. But once they got to the place and the businessman fired shots at them they retaliated. Some of the other killings carried out by this gang, the source said, were in retaliation for past grievances with persons. (Stabroek News)

Mission accomplished?

Although the joint services did a commendable job, I caution the authorities not to say, "mission accomplished". The investigation into the missing weapons and how some ended up in the hands of the bandits is still at a dead end.

The officer in charge of the Berbice operation should have made every effort to capture some of the bandits alive after it was discovered that they were in the possession of some of the stolen weapons. They had the bandits trapped without food or fresh water, they claimed that bandits were shedding their weapons and loot: - they were in survivor mode. It was very likely the bandits would have surrendered if given the chance to do so.

Dead men tell no tales and over two dozen weapons are still stockpiled somewhere to be unleashed against us by a new and possibly more violent breed of criminal.

The phantom group killed the escapees and others. It was targeted executions with no follow up investigations by the authorities to identify accomplices or weapon stockpiles. The 'aftershock' is now being felt after this new breed of bandits unleashed their terror against us. If the authorities have learnt anything from the phantom fiasco, they would have searched the homes and surroundings of the bandits, regardless of the 'pretty picture painted' by relatives of the deceased.

Mr. Greene should have taken Mr. Khan's bulletproof vehicle, tinted the windows, placed 'Skinny' inside under heavy guard, drove him around to have him identify all his cohorts, who he got his first weapon from, the benefactors of his misdeeds, and have them all arrested.

Additionally, he would have had to point out his hideouts, where he hid his loot and weapons and identify the routes he and his gang took to execute their crimes, so that the authorities could respond appropriately when new 'Skinnys' decide to rear their ugly heads in the future. (Guyana Cronicle/Joe Owen)

Despite the recovery of eight of the 30 AK-47s which went missing along with five pistols from an army bond almost seven months ago, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) seems no closer to ascertaining who stole the weapons.

One of the AK-47s was found in a clump of bushes on the East Coast a few months ago and ballistic tests proved that it was never fired, while the other six were in the possession of eight suspected bank robbers who were killed between last week Sunday and Thursday in the backlands of Brotherson, Canje River and Black Bush Polder, Berbice.

Sources have indicated to Stabroek News that the army was not celebrating over the recovery of the eight Kalashnikovs. They would only celebrate when all of the weapons had been recovered and when they had found out who stole them.

To date the GDF has not been able to ascertain which of their ranks assisted the criminal elements on the outside to sneak the weapons out of Camp Ayanganna. Initially they had several ranks confined to Camp Ayanganna.

Officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) visited the country on two occasions and on the last visit the Joint Services had issued a release saying that they were making some headway in their investigations.

Polygraph tests were conducted on some ranks during that visit, and some of them failed the test although this was not made public at an official level. Since then, however, there has been no more official update on the investigation. Stabroek News has been told that the DNA from the stool that was found in the bond from where the weapons went missing did not match the DNA of any of the ranks who were confined.

This newspaper has been told that "three or four" ranks were still in custody and that ranks "will be charged" in connection with the missing weapons. However, the question of who was behind the robbery remains unanswered.

At an early stage the GDF issued bulletins for persons they were interested in interviewing in relation to the theft, including former soldiers Oliver Hinckson and James Gibson. The two never made themselves available but were later arrested in a house and were subsequently charged with being in possession of an unlicensed firearm - not an AK-47 and not a weapon belonging to the army. They are now on bail and no more has been heard about the missing weapons in connection with them.

A bulletin was also issued for the leaders of the Joint Initiative for Human Advancement and Development (JIHAD), Gerald and Mariam Pereira. The day after they had been asked to make themselves available the couple reported to the police and after a short time spent with investigators they were sent on their way. Nothing more was heard of them either in relation to the missing arms.

But probably the main efforts by the Joint Services to recover the AK-47s were centred around drug accused Roger Khan and his associates. Khan is now in a US jail on a charge of conspiring to traffic in narcotics after being held in Suriname.

Several of Khan's businesses and properties including those of his relatives and friends were searched, and several persons were arrested but no AK-47 was ever found.

But Chief of Staff, Brigadier General Edward Collins while admitting that they had not been successful in locating the arms was of the view that the police and the army had helped to topple a drug empire.

On June 28 during an army officers' retreat Collins had said that the recovery of the stolen AK-47s was the foremost objective of the GDF, and even though they had not found all of them their operation at that time had aided the destruction of one of the main drug empires in the country.

He had said that despite the fact the weapons had not been recovered he wanted to recognize the "sterling performance" of the young officers and soldiers in the field.

"Their effort has contributed to the police's destruction of one of the main drug empire(s) and consequently sterilized the trafficking of cocaine, cleaned up the entertainment houses and forced the drug lord out of his area of influence and into the Surinamese jail from where he can no longer threaten the self esteem of our young daughters and sisters. I am convinced that it is only a matter of time when he will let us know where our other weapons are," he had said at the time.

The army head had not identified anyone but it was clear that he was referring to drug-accused businessman Khan, who at that time was in a Surinamese jail following a drug bust in Paramaribo. Prior to that bust, Khan had crossed swords with the army and the police, accusing both of them of colluding with the US embassy and the PNCR in a plot against the government.

At that time Collins had called for more internal vigilance in the light of the apparent collusion of servicemen in the theft. He had said the complicity of members of the GDF in the theft of army weapons posed crucial questions for national security, and he had given the assurance that the recovery of the stolen arms remained the army's priority.

He had also said while only one of the weapons had been recovered at the time, they had nevertheless achieved their subsidiary strategic objective of rendering the arms useless by hunting down potential users in the criminal underworld. "This effort must and will continue," he had declared.

However, that effort was not continued as seven of the weapons were found in the possession of eight suspected bank robbers.

For her part Minister of Home Affairs Gail Teixeira has publicly said that the "Buxton gang" was behind the robbery. If it was, it has been suggested there is the possibility that a large sum of money might have tempted the army ranks into assisting in removing the weapons. If so, then where did the money come from? Questions in relation to the weapons recovered from the suspected bank robbers, however, might never be answered since they have all been killed.

Sources have indicated to Stabroek News that nothing is black and white and that the criminal enterprise in the country is "far flung." It was said that people should understand there is no one group of persons responsible for every major criminal act in Guyana. It was also noted that the persons who carried out the acts were as important as those who paid them or ordered them to carry out the acts.

"Intelligence gathering is painstaking and it may not be completed in a day or a month, but we are working towards finding out who stole the weapons and we will find out" an army source told Stabroek News. The source was optimistic that they would also find out who was the mastermind behind the removal.

This newspaper was told too that the criminal enterprise in Guyana was being underestimated, as only one set of persons was being focused on when real and dangerous criminals were all over the country. (Stabroek News)

The eight men believed to be from the heavily-armed gang of about 15 who terrorised residents of Rose Hall town and robbed two banks last week, were all dead by yesterday morning following shootouts with the Joint Services trailing them in swampy terrain for a week.

But as praise poured in for the police and soldiers for success at the end of an extensive and determined mission, officials warned that the hunt will continue for other gang members and criminal networks that have spawned a reign of terror along the coastland.

The eight men died trying to escape the Joint Services in the difficult backlands of Berbice where the gang fled after the daring and precision robbery attack on the bustling Rose Hall town two Fridays ago.

The Joint Services said the end came at about 18:30 h Thursday when ranks were in an armed confrontation with three men in the Black Bush Polder backlands.

The three were fatally shot and one body located Thursday evening. The other two bodies were found at about 05:30 h yesterday, the Joint Services said in a press release.

Two of the men have been identified as Albert Evans called `Doney’ of Buxton, and Wayne Azore called `Stiff Jack’ of Melanie Damishana, both places on the East Coast Demerara. Police sources said `Doney’ was a notorious bandit based in Buxton.

Three others were killed in a shootout with the Joint Services last Sunday and two more died in another confrontation Thursday morning.

Home Affairs Minister, Ms. Gail Teixeira was last night full of praise for the Joint Services ranks for their “fine work” in the field and their “very laudable” successes over the past week.

“I would like to go on record to congratulate the Joint Services for their very fine work; I think it was a fantastic job done. I think that the morale is high but we still have more work to do and more challenges to face,” the minister told this newspaper.

She also extended congratulations to Police Commissioner Henry Greene, the Guyana Police Force in general and “those men from the police who were out in the back dam going through some pretty awful stuff”. Teixeira was also full of praise for Army Chief of Staff Brigadier Edward Collins and all the soldiers who were involved in the operation and were crucial to the success achieved.

In an invited comment via telephone, Commander of Police “B” Division, Clinton Conway yesterday said although the operation was centred in Berbice, it was a Joint Services exercise with tremendous support from headquarters, coupled with other good coordination. Despite a few hiccups here and there, he said the operation went well, reiterating that there was tremendous support from Georgetown.

He publicly praised the ranks who were involved in the operation regardless of how insignificant they may have felt of their input, adding that what matters in the end is success. He cautioned that there is still more work to do, as they (bandits) could not have carried out such an exercise without aid.

“There are others in that criminal network who we need to get at…we need to work towards dismantling the entire network”, he said.

Commander Conway also spoke highly of the public support the force received during the operation, some with useful information, noting that telephone calls were received from as far as Lethem, the Essequibo Coast and the West Demerara, encouraging the Joint Services ranks to stay with the relentless pursuit of the bandits.

Responding to a query, the Assistant Commissioner, who has had more than 30 years service in the Force, admitted that although he has been involved in operations before, this was the first of this magnitude. He is of the firm belief that the success reaped by the Joint Services in this operation will serve to boost the confidence of the public in both the Police and Army, in particular the ability of the police to carry out their mandate.

Aware that there may still be some people who are against the Police, Commander Conway reasoned that the positive nevertheless outweighs the negative.

On Sunday, the Joint Services shot and killed Abu Mendonza, 28, of Kildonan, Corentyne; Fitzgerald Koulen, 25, of Durban Street, Lodge, Georgetown, and Dayeon Campbell, 23, of `B’ Field, Sophia, also in Georgetown. Unconfirmed reports said a shot man was under medical supervision.

The Joint Services Thursday found in the continuing operation, three AK-47 magazines; five AK-47 rifles; a Beretta rifle; a Beretta magazine, 36 rounds of 7.62x3 ammunition, one round 3.57 ammunition, a black mask, and an ammunition belt. In addition, four travelling bags were found with an undisclosed sum of wet Guyana currency. Another AK-47 and more money in more bags were found Sunday.

On Wednesday, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) helicopter, cleared for flying again after repairs, joined the continuing operation by the Joint Services to capture the other members of the heavily-armed gang. The chopper played a key role in helping to intercept a car on a road in West Berbice Wednesday and the detention of several persons.

The Joint Services said four of the AK-47 rifles recovered Thursday are from the 30 stolen from the GDF Camp Ayanganna base in Georgetown earlier this year.

A press release said following reports received that two men were seen removing sums of money that appeared to be wet from haversacks outside a car rental service in the city Tuesday, members of the Joint Services launched an immediate investigation.

Two motor vehicles were traced with the aid of the GDF helicopter, one of which was eventually located Wednesday outside a police rank’s home at No. 9 Village, West Coast Berbice.

The rank was arrested and further investigations led to a search of a house at Charlotte Street, Georgetown, where a total of $113,125 in cash was found, the Joint Services said. That search resulted in another police rank along with two females being arrested and a safe seized.

The investigations are continuing and according to the Joint Services, eight police ranks along with the two females have been arrested to date in relation to the incident. However, the Joint Services said, it has not yet been established that the cash seized was part of the money stolen during the robbery of the banks at Rose Hall last week Friday.

The Joint Services also refuted reports in sections of the media yesterday that the sums of money seized amount to millions of dollars. “These reports, carried in sections of the print media today (Thursday), are false and misleading and have caused the morale of the uniformed ranks involved in the pursuit of dangerous criminals in the Berbice back lands to be affected.

“No evidence has been unearthed that any member of the Joint Services came into contact with any bandit and was involved in any corrupt transaction. “The Joint Services are calling on the media to be responsible and objective in their reporting,” the release added.

Two Fridays ago, the group of 15 heavily-armed gang stormed into Rose Hall town in broad daylight, shooting a woman in the back while robbing two commercial banks. In a brazen display of firepower and military-like precision, the gang struck in a precision operation that lasted under 15 minutes.

Residents and other witnesses said they simultaneously approached the Republic Bank and Demerara Bank, which are near each other, firing shots indiscriminately, rounded up and forced people in the area to form a human line to block the main road to carry out the robbery attacks.

They fled towards the back lands in vehicles but the Joint Services were deployed in a massive sweep that ended yesterday with ranks returning to New Amsterdam. (Wendella Davidson and Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronicle/Additional reporting by Jeune Bailey Van-Keric)

Cocaine in cabbage

Ranks from the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) yesterday arrested a woman at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport with more than 10 kilogrammes of cocaine stuffed in cabbages.

An official said that around 10:30 h yesterday, the woman was booked on a flight to Canada when a routine search was conducted on her person and belongings. The cocaine, in pellets, was discovered in the cabbages she was taking with her. The woman also had other vegetables such as ochroes, egg plants and bora.

According to the official, she gave her name as Vidya Singh but later admitted to the Police that it was false. CANU officials could not estimate the value of the cocaine.

Over the years smugglers have used innovative ways to ship illegal drugs out of the country with some resorting to rum, timber and coconuts. (Guyana Cronicle)

“We intend to utilise the best international expertise in the fight against crime…and yes we will hire Mr. Kerik (and) we have no apologies to make about that,” the President declared during the launch of his party’s 2006 elections manifesto.

His declaration came in the face of criticisms from some quarters and sections of society that Kerik has a problematic background with a so-called history of ethical improprieties and as such should not be hired here.

Questions were also raised about who is or will be funding the services of Kerik in Guyana and whether this was done through a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“…I see them distorting the Bernard Kerik matter, but we already have the Scottish police here and they have been working with us and developing a programme of reforms for the past eight months; we are also working with the British government and we have asked for some assistance from the U.S. Government and yes, we will hire Mr. Kerik too,” the President said to cheers from those gathered under the roof of the historic Umana Yanna in Georgetown for the manifesto launch.

“We will hire Mr. Kerik; we don’t have any apologies to make about that,” he stressed, adding that the PPP/C administration intends to use the best expertise to be garnered from many sources. “We will not sideline the policemen like some people want,” the President said, noting that the leadership of the Guyana Police Force will be involved in reforms slated to take place in the force.

Kerik has been in discussions with the Guyana Government over the past weeks and is slated to play an integral part in planned restructuring and reforms of the Guyana Police Force.

President Jagdeo, at a news conference at the Presidential Secretariat in Georgetown last week, confirmed that a reputable security consultancy firm owned and headed by Kerik would be contracted by the Guyana Government to play a major role in the post-elections reforms planned for the Police Force.

Kerik served as the 40th Police Commissioner of the City of New York where he was responsible for 55,000 uniformed and civilian employees and a US$3.2B annual budget. His 16-month term was marked by dramatic reductions in crime, innovative and creative management, as well as being responsible for overseeing the rescue, recovery and investigation of the infamous World Trade Centre terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.

“Mr. Kerik is a very skilled individual. He was President Bush’s nominee for Homeland Security - a very powerful cabinet position and he has worked in the U.S. Army, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and he managed the September 11 period as Police Commissioner in New York with a staff of some 55,000 policemen/women under his control - so his credentials in law enforcement are very impressive,” the Guyanese Head of State told reporters last week.

Meanwhile, as part of the PPP/C 2006 manifesto launched under the theme ‘A Brighter Future For All Guyanese’, President Jagdeo said radical changes will be instituted over the next five years in the criminal justice system and the bodies mandated to uphold law and order in which all citizens in their communities, interest groups, and non-governmental bodies will play a more active participatory role in promoting safer neighbourhoods and a more law abiding society.

Mr. Jagdeo told the gathering that the reform of the police force will focus on, among other things:

** Building a new crime laboratory, including the improvement of forensic and investigative capacity

** Using the best international expertise to assist in the fight against crime.

To intensify the fight against narco-trade, the President noted that the measures outlined in the PPP/C manifesto include:

** Strengthening of the Financial Intelligence Unit with stronger money laundering and asset forfeiture legislation with more staffing and resources

** Strengthening the inter-agency task force on narcotics and trafficking in illicit weapons to more effectively generate inter-agency intelligence and operations

** Reorganisation of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) to allow it to more effectively expand its operational efficiency

** Enhance international cooperation especially with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

And to support the initiative of citizens participation in promoting safer communities and a safer Guyana, President Jagdeo said the PPP/C (not if but when re-elected) will:

** Strengthen the role and functions of the National Commission of Law and Order as a key forum for consultation and participation of broader society

** Expand Community Policing Units in the country to allow for greater linkages between the police and communities to build greater confidence in the reduction of crime and violence.

The President also spoke briefly about the intended modernization of the Immigration and Traffic Department of the Police Force and the move to complete the computerisation of foundation documents such as death, marriage and birth certificates.

The Judiciary will be reformed to provide more expeditious and better quality service to our people, the Guyanese Head of State promised. (Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronicle)

Two of those suspected to be among the gang that robbed the Demerara Bank and Republic Bank were shot dead before dawn yesterday aback Johanna, Black Bush Polder, about 35 miles from New Amsterdam. And by nightfall, another had been killed in the Canje River area, official sources said.

Reached yesterday, Commander “B” Division, Assistant Police Commissioner Cecil Conway told the Guyana Chronicle that though the exercise is tedious and the terrain difficult, “we will get all of them (bandits); it’s just a matter of time.”

Asked about the morale of the ranks pursuing the suspected bank robbers, Commander Conway said, “they are highly motivated on this exercise…this is our time; we’ve got to make full use of it, the tides have turned.”

The Army helicopter during the operation in Berbice yesterday

The middle finger on his left hand sported a wedding band, which appeared to have been placed there recently, and he was also found with a cell phone, a black hood and a torchlight.

The other man, appearing to be also in his mid-twenties, was of African descent, loosely clad, and was barefooted. They, like the other killed late yesterday afternoon, were unidentified by press time last night.

Last Sunday morning, Abu Mendonza, 28, of Kildonan, Corentyne; Fitzgerald Koulen, 25, of D'urban Street, Lodge, Georgetown, and Dayeon Campbell, 23, of `B’ Field, Sophia, also in Georgetown were killed after they were cornered in a swampy area southwest of Brotherson along the Canje Creek, officials said.

The Joint Services yesterday found in the continuing operation, three AK-47 magazines; five AK-47 rifles; a Beretta rifle; a Beretta magazine, 36 rounds of 7.62x3 ammunition, one round 3.57 ammunition, a black mask, and an ammunition belt. In addition, four travelling bags were found with an undisclosed sum of wet Guyana currency.

The chopper played a key role in helping to intercept a car on a road in West Berbice Wednesday and the detention of several persons. The Joint Services said four of the AK-47 rifles recovered yesterday are from the 30 stolen from the GDF Camp Ayanganna base in Georgetown earlier this year.

Two motor vehicles were traced with the aid of the GDF helicopter, one of which was eventually located Wednesday outside a police rank’s home at No. 9 Village, West Coast Berbice. The rank was arrested and further investigations led to a search of a house at Charlotte Street, Georgetown, where a total of $113,125 in cash was found, the Joint Services said. That search resulted in another police rank along with two females being arrested and a safe seized.

The investigations are continuing and according to the Joint Services, eight police ranks along with the two females have been arrested to date in relation to the incident. However, the Joint Services said, it has not yet been established that the cash seized was part of the money stolen during the robbery of the banks at Rose Hall last Friday.

Three young men appeared in court yesterday charged with the slaying last week of five Kaieteur News pressmen and two other men in a chilling rampage on the East Bank Demerara.

The trio, said to be part of the gang that shot dead the five at the Kaieteur News printery at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, appeared under tight security in the Georgetown Magistrates court before acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan.

Dwight da Silva Germaine Charles "Skinny"

Alleged ring leader Germaine Charles called ‘Skinny’, of Lot 133, Brutus Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara, and of Buxton, East Coast Demerara; Dwight da Silva and Quincy Evans known as ‘Jimmy Dog’, were not required to plead to the indictable charges. Kaieteur News owner Glen Lall, who was in court with employees of the newspaper for the appearance of the three, was visibly upset as the men were brought in.

The first charge read to Charles, DaSilva and Evans said that between last August 7 and 13, at the Kaieteur News printery, they murdered Mark Maikoo, Chitram ‘Boyo’ Persaud, Eon Wigman, Richard Stuart and Shazim Mohamed. The three were also jointly charged for murdering Wordsworth Grey at Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara on August 8 last.

Charles and da Silva were separately charged with murdering Barbot Paul at Kaneville, Grove, East Bank Demerara last August 6. ‘Skinny’ faced three other murder charges and an attempted murder charge.

Police said he on January 23 last at Agricola, allegedly murdered Devon Charles. On March 18 last at McDoom, East Bank Demerara, he allegedly murdered Kevin Browne and on the same day at the same location, attempted to murder Shaundell Browne, police said. Another charge said that with Diego France, who is already in prison but was not in court yesterday, he murdered Gilford Grey at Agricola on June 26 last.

‘Skinny’ was also charged with the unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition to which he pleaded not guilty. The charge said that on August 11 last, he was found with a .32 Millennium pistol together with 29 live rounds of matching ammunition.

Attorney-at-law Glen Hanoman represented DaSilva and told the magistrate, in his application for an early date for his client’s return to court, that he was brutally tortured by the police while in prison and as a result, he was spitting and urinating blood. “The police had them beaten and made them confess to every crime that occurred in Guyana”, he claimed.

The lawyer further stated that even though the three youths are presumed to be “devils”, they are still entitled to be seen by a doctor if required. He also noted that currently, there is no registered practitioner at the prison.

Police Inspector Maxine Graham, prosecuting, said that while the accused were in custody, they made no report about being assaulted. For the two joint charges, the three are to attend the Providence Magistrate’s court on October 6.

The matters involving Charles and DaSilva will continue on October 5 and Charles’ matters would continue in Court One on September 28.

THE three men taken into custody after a heavily-armed gang robbed the Republic Bank and the Demerara Bank branches last week in Rose Hall, yesterday appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan in Georgetown charged with robbery under arms.

Terrence Azure called ‘Blacks’, 43, of Lot 237 Second Street, Melanie, East Coast Demerara; Harlan Lepps also called ‘Blacks’, 34, whose address was given as De Veldt, Berbice River; and Henry Lindy, 33, also of De Veldt, were not required to plead to the indictable charge.

Particulars said that on August 11 last at Rose Hall, Berbice, being armed with a gun, they robbed Demerara Bank of $11,200,000. Attorney-at-law Peter Hugh entered appearance for Lepps and Lindy and made a bail application.

He said Lepps runs a boat for hire along the Berbice River while Lindy assists him. He also stated that the men were taken into custody at Canje Creek which is nowhere near Rose Hall and had been in the lockups for six days.

Hugh said his clients never admitted to the offence as they were not found with either money or guns. He also claimed they were beaten by the police and were examined at the Brickdam Police Station where a record was made.

Police Inspector Maxine Graham, prosecuting, asked that bail be refused for the three. She said the police have evidence that the three admitted to robbing the two banks at Rose Hall, noting that the other matter involving Republic Bank at Rose Hall was still under investigation. Mr. Sullivan refused bail and the matter is to come up again on September 19 at the Albion Magistrate’s Court in Berbice. (Guyana Cronicle)

Twenty-one-year-old Jermaine `Skinny' Charles yesterday appeared in court charged with the murders of 10 persons over 18 months including five Kaieteur News pressmen during a bloody rampage on the East Bank last week. Charles, 21, of Agricola and one of the other defendants are also accused of slaying Kaneville businessman Barbot Paul a few days before the Kaieteur News attack.

Additionally, Charles is implicated in two murders in his home village and the gunning down of twelve-year-old Kevin Browne in his Mc Doom home earlier this year and the wounding of Browne's mother, Shondell Browne.

When Charles was arrested last Friday, he was allegedly in possession of a gun that was stolen from the murdered Kaneville businessman. He was also slapped with a fire-arm charge yesterday when he appeared in the George-town Magistrate's Court.

Charles, Dwight Da Silva called 'Whitey' of Agricola and Quincy Evans called 'Jimmy Dog' (no address given), were not required to plead to two joint charges of murder. Charles and Da Silva were not required to plead to one count of the same charge.

From left to right Dwight Da Silva and Quincy Evans

In addition Charles was not allowed to answer three counts of murder and one count of attempting to commit murder. Acting Chief Magis-trate Cecil Sullivan remanded them all to prison. Charles, however, denied unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition, when he was not the holder of a firearm licence.

Many curious court employees and police officers left their posts yesterday to get a glimpse of `Skinny' who has been a suspect in some of the most brutal killings in the last year. The trio arrived at court in the company of armed ranks and they were taken away in similar manner. Charles was shackled at the feet and was bare-chested.

In the courtroom armed ranks were also present. While the charges were being read, publisher of Kaieteur News Glenn Lall positioned himself at the side of the court dock.

It is alleged that between August 7 and 13 at Eccles the trio murdered Chetram Persaud, Eion Wegman, Richard Stewart, Mark Maikoo and Shazeem Mohamed. On August 8 at Bagotstown they allegedly murdered Wordsworth Grey. Charles and Da Silva are alleged to have murdered Paul on August 6 at his business place at Kaneville.

Additionally Charles is accused of murdering Devon Charles at Agricola on June 23, Guilford Henry, a soldier on June 26 last year and Kevin Browne on March 18.

He shares the murder charge for Browne with Dego France. On May 22, France, 19, of 127 Cato Street, Agricola appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate's Court. Charles is alleged to have had in his possession last Friday, one .32 Taurus pistol and 29 rounds of matching ammunition.

Police last month issued wanted bulletins for Charles and five others in connection with the murders of Minister Satyadeow Sawh, his two siblings and his security guard. The other wanted men are notorious prison escapee Troy Dick, who has been on the run since February 23, 2002 when he and four others made a bloody escape from the Camp Street prison.

Rondel `Fineman' Rawlins of Agricola, Orlando Andrews known as `Biscuit' or Jeffrey of Buxton, David Zammet called David Leander of `Bullet' of Buxton and Richard Daniels called `Chucky' of Agricola.

The police have also issued wanted bulletins for four other men: `Cash' and `Not Nice' of Buxton, `Sonny' of Agricola and `John Kirby' also of the same village.

Reports are that on August 8, a large band of gunmen, some also armed with cutlasses and machetes went to the home of shop owner Grey at Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown and shot him dead. The group then proceeded to the Kaieteur News printery at Industrial Site, Eccles where they commanded the security guard, Julian De Grace to open the gates.

The bandits searched De Grace's pocket and robbed him of cash. The man was also gun-butted and shot at. He survived the attack and is hospitalized. The bandits then entered the printery and ordered the five pressmen to lie face down on the ground. They were then shot one after the other in the head. All died on the spot except Mohamed. He was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at the Georgetown Hospital in a critical condition. He however succumbed Sunday without regaining consciousness.

On August 6, around 9:05 pm Paul was standing at the entrance of his shop when a man with a gun and mask stepped up and started shooting. Paul, a licensed firearm holder, returned fire. However, the businessman was riddled with bullets and his firearm taken away.

Devon Charles of Kaneville was killed on January 23 after four gunmen came out a car and shot him twice in his back as he was sitting on the Agricola Public Road with a friend. He ran to a nearby restaurant but stumbled upon a piece of wood and fell. The gunmen, who were in hot pursuit then stood over him and fired at least three more shots.

On March 18 around 1:15 pm five men, two of whom were masked, turned up at 63 Back Street, Mc Doom with high-powered weapons. The gunmen threw a tear smoke grenade into the house before storming in and discharging several rounds.

Kevin Browne who had just taken a bath was fatally shot as he tried to run out of a bedroom. His mother, Shondell Browne was shot in the shoulder, back and groin as she was preparing lunch in the kitchen. She had to undergo emergency surgery at the Georgetown Hospital and was later discharged.

Dego France was later charged with Kevin's murder. However he was not charged with injuring Shondell Browne.

Charles is further accused of killing Henry, a soldier, while he was heading to Georgetown in a route 42 mini-bus on June 27. At the time the bus was on the Agricola Public Road.

Reports are that the gunmen allegedly operating out of Agricola were trying to ambush and rob the bus but the driver drove away causing them to open fire. Henry who was asleep received a single gunshot wound to the jaw. He died seven hours later.

Attorney-at-law Desmond Agard appeared for Evans while Glen Hanoman appeared for Da Silva. Charles was unrepresented. Hanoman asked the court for an early date for his clients since the offences are not bailable. He stated that his client is complaining that he was tortured by the police. He asked that his client be permitted to seek medical attention. The magistrate in reply told Hanoman that Da Silva would be allowed to see the prison medex.

The defence counsel added that habeas corpus proceedings have been filed in the High Court. In those proceedings, he said there is sworn evidence that blunt instruments and electric shock were used on his client.

While in court Da Silva was seen spitting blood on a tissue and showing it to his lawyer. According to Hanoman his client had to confess to every single crime in Guyana after the beating he received. Police prosecutor Maxine Graham said that the defendants were in custody and no reports of assault were made.

"He urinated blood and had been shocked with many volts of electricity. He has even given me the names of the policemen who did this... Despite who these people are they are entitled to see a doctor. They (the police) want a long date so that the wounds can go away," said Hanoman.

He told the court that all he is asking for is a report date to see if his client had indeed seen a doctor. Graham in response said that the prison would carry out the court's order for Da Silva to see a doctor. "If he (Hanoman) has anything to report he can do so. We don't have to set a date." The defence counsel added that the police had been "inhumane" to the defendants.

"My client has no confidence that the state is interested in his well-being. There is no registered medical practitioner in the prison. The medex there just gives tablets. He can't diagnose anything." After denying the firearm charges, Charles said: "Sir de firearm wasn't on me. When de police come sir, they start to lash me with de gun sir."

The trio will return to Providence Magistrate's Court on October 5 and 6 while Charles will return to the Georgetown Magistrate's Court for the firearm matter. (Stabroek News)

Several ranks of the Tactical Services Unit have been detained after three of their colleagues were reportedly caught with millions of dollars in wet cash. Two of the ranks were reportedly nabbed in a taxi in Berbice with about $2.8M, while acting on information, investigators searched the home of another and found an additional $1M yesterday.

Investigators believe that the cash may be a part of money recovered by the security forces from fleeing bandits who had robbed the Rose Hall branches of Demerara and Republic Banks.

Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira had confirmed on Sunday that the security forces had recovered three bags of cash. She however could not say at the time how much the cash amounted to.
Reliable sources told Kaieteur News that two ranks who were on the operation to apprehend the bank robbers hired a taxi to take them to the city and paid the driver with a large amount of wet, local currency.

The taxi driver became suspicious and managed to inform the police. The car was intercepted and a search was carried out and the cash was unearthed. The ranks could not give a proper explanation for how they obtained the cash. Acting on information, investigators went to the home of another rank where they reportedly found another substantial amount of cash. They proceeded to seize a motorcycle which was recently bought.

Further information led them to detain six other ranks who were a part of the police operation in Berbice. The investigation also led to two senior officers being under close scrutiny. This newspaper understands that high ranking officers from police headquarters Eve Leary traveled to Berbice by aircraft yesterday to carry out investigations into the matter.

Meanwhile, police have detained a New Amsterdam woman for questioning as investigations into the bank robberies continue. Police sources said that the woman could provide vital information on some of the suspects. (Kaieteur News)

Ganja yes, pipe no

A man accused of having narcotics and a related smoking utensil appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan.

Joel Bancroft, 25, of Lot 14, ‘D’ La Penitence, Georgetown, pleaded guilty to having five grams of cannabis (ganja) on August 14 last. He, however, denied having a pipe used to smoke cannabis the same day.

Bancroft was fined $10,000 for possessing the narcotic and is to return to court on November 14 in relation to the pipe charge. (Guyana Cronicle)

Army helicopter joins Joint Services operation

Car, several persons detained

THE Guyana Defence Force (GDF) helicopter, cleared for flying again after repairs, yesterday joined the continuing operation by the Joint Services to capture the heavily-armed gang that robbed two banks at Rose Hall town in Berbice last week, an official source said. And the chopper played a key role in helping to intercept a car on a road in West Berbice and the detention of the two men inside, the source said.

The interception of the car followed a tip-off that the two men in the vehicle were on the way to pick up some of the gang members still eluding the massive Joint Services operation, the source told the Guyana Chronicle. The source said several persons were also arrested at a series of roadblocks manned by the Joint Services along the East Coast Demerara yesterday.

The intensive sweep operation launched after last Friday’s daring robbery attack on the Republic Bank and Demerara bank branches at Rose Hall town, is continuing, the source said. As the search for the rest of the some 15-member gang in the swampy, dense backlands in Berbice went on yesterday, an official of one of the banks robbed Friday said none of the three men killed in the confrontation Sunday was in the bank during the robbery.

According to the source, the robbers were well-dressed, soft spoken men, who had a good command of the English language with a slight accent. He told the Guyana Chronicle the bank robbers were either deportees or Americans.

According to information received, one of the robbers sought to have a private meeting with the bank branch manager last Friday, and before usual protocol was observed, he ushered himself into the offices where he demanded the closed circuit TV tape and the keys to the vault.

During this time, sources said the robber indicated that the senior official had three minutes to comply, failing which drastic measures would have been taken. According to a source, the attack was well-planned and well-executed with regards to the timing.

In addition, it is believed that those killed by members of the Joint Services in the shootout Sunday, were sacrificed by others in the gang as a distraction to the pursuing forces. A reliable source said the three gang members who were killed were bitten by snakes and it was apparent that this slowed them down as they tried to elude the search parties in the swampy terrain in the Canje Creek.

The Joint Services Tuesday identified the three dead as Abu Mendonza, 28, of Kildonan, Corentyne; Fitzgerald Koulen, 25, of Durban Street, Lodge, Georgetown, and Dayeon Campbell, 23, of `B’ Field, Sophia, also in Georgetown.

Some villagers from Kildonan told the Guyana Chronicle they were ashamed that a ‘country man’ was linked to such a brazen crime which left residents in shock.

According to a community leader, Mendonza had a few brushes with the law, but was never known to have been a bank robber as such crimes were associated with persons from the East Coast Demerara. The sweep operation was launched immediately after last Friday’s daring daylight bank robbery in the bustling Rose Hall town in Berbice where the gang brazenly robbed the two banks before using persons as human shields to flee towards the back lands.

Two more AK-47 rifles, four matching magazines and three large bags with a quantity of Guyana currency were also recovered by the Joint Services, Home Affairs Minister, Ms. Gail Teixeira told reporters Sunday. Three of the missing AK-47 assault rifles that mysteriously disappeared from the Army headquarters in Georgetown earlier this year have so far been recovered in the operation. (Guyana Cronicle)

How did three men who were apparently not wanted for any major crime end up as part of a well-trained gang that terrorised Rose Hall residents on Friday and robbed two banks of over $100M before dying in a shoot-out with the Joint Services on Sunday?

This was one of the questions on the minds of many following statements from government and police officials that a notorious Buxton gang was suspected of the chilling robbery and the killings on the East Bank last week Tuesday.

The three men who died in the confrontation in the Canje swamps have been identified as Abu Mendonca, 28, of Kildonan, Corentyne; Fitzgerald Koulen, 25, of D'Urban Street, Lodge and Dayeon Campbell, 23, of "B" Field Sophia and Lodge.

None of these names has appeared on the lists of notorious wanted men said to have been involved in the murder of Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh and three others and the six men at Kaieteur News and Bagotstown on Tuesday. It was also pointed out that one of the suspected masterminds of the attack on Kaieteur News was held at a city hotel along with several others on the day of the Rose Hall attack.

It raises the possibility that there are several major gangs at work. It had been pointed out by some that it was unlikely that the same gang would have had the wherewithal to carried out major assaults in two widely separated parts of the country in a matter of days.

That the three men were killed with deadly rifles in their possession also begs the question of how apparently `ordinary' citizens have ended up trained to use these weapons. It has long been suspected that masterminds have been mobilizing willing recruits and training them in parts of the East Coast.

The three bank robbers were shot and killed after a near 50-hour chase by members of the Joint Services. While Mendonca is from the Corentyne, Campbell and Koulen are from the city and lived just about four houses apart.

The three, according to a release from the Joint Services, were killed during an armed confrontation with the lawmen in an area southwest of Brotherson, Canje Creek, Berbice. Three of the AK-47s that were found over the weekend in Canje were identified as having been stolen from the Guyanese Defence Force.

And yesterday the Joint Services continued their search for at least five more bandits said to be in the general area where the three were killed. Yesterday, the father of Koulen, Peter Koulen, was still trying to come to grips with the circumstances under which his son died. As far as he knew, his son was a peaceful and fun-loving person who for the past month or so has been living at Annandale, East Coast Demerara, planting vegetables and rearing poultry.

So how come he ended up dead in the Canje River area hours after a major bank robbery? It is a million-dollar question that the father would like answered. The man said his son use to do construction work off and on until he took up residence in Annandale in his niece's house. His father said he bought the birds and helped his son to start the poultry rearing business. The last time he saw his son was around 9 pm on Thursday when he left the D'Urban Street location where he had spent the afternoon with his nieces, nephews and siblings.

He was expected to return on Saturday as according to his father he usually spent the weekend at the home where he grew up. His father said when he did not turn up on Saturday he wondered why especially since they had planned to go on an excursion on Sunday. He said that his son did not have a cellular phone to make contact with him. The man said when he heard of the bank robbery on Friday he never thought that his son could have been involved as he knew him to be involved in legitimate activities.

"But you can make your children but you don't make their minds," the man lamented yesterday. He said on Monday morning one of his daughters bought an issue of the Kaieteur News and saw the face of the dead man on its front page. "Even though I see the picture I tell she it can't be Junior (Fitzgerald) because as far as I know he was not involved in anything. But is yesterday she went to Berbice and positively identified him," the father said.

A relative of Mendonca stated that he was last seen on Friday morning when he left with his mother to pick up his passport at the office in New Amsterdam. The relative added that that afternoon they did not see Mendonca and tried calling him on his cellular phone but got no answer. The relative added that they had been calling because they heard about the robbery and wanted to know whether he was caught up in it.

On Sunday the relative had to be at the New Amsterdam hospital for an X-Ray and bought a Kaieteur News but did not recognize the face of the dead man on the front page. It was only when a friend from overseas who went to school with Mendonca called that they went to the mortuary and identified his body. The overseas friend who knew Mendonca very well had seen the photo on the internet and called at his home to find out about him.

The overseas friend told the relatives that the photo was that of Mendonca which made the family go to the police. The relative added that they do not know how Mendonca got involved. Mendonca, the relative said, used to hunt iguana in Suriname and would stay for two days but he would usually call. Mendonza leaves to mourn two children, his parents and other relatives. Campbell's family said he was positively identified yesterday morning but they declined to comment further.

And the three men who were apprehended by lawmen on Friday afternoon at Brotherson are still in custody at the Brickdam lock-ups. They were picked up in a boat in the Canje River and investigators believe they were waiting to transport the bandits. The men however said they were waiting to buy marijuana.

Two are from De Veldt, Berbice River while the third, said to be wanted over the June 1 murder of Ramjit Rampersaud at Enterprise, East Coast Demerara, is from Paradise, East Coast Demerara. (Stabroek News)

Police say that Jermaine Charles called `Skinny' who was captured outside of a city hotel last Friday could face up to eleven murder charges. Up to yesterday, detectives were said to be intensely grilling him and three other suspects in relation to a number of major crimes.

Charles was wanted in connection with the murder of Agriculture Minister, Satyadeow Sawh, his two siblings and a security guard as well as the deaths of five pressmen at Kaieteur News and a resident of Bagotstown. When he was captured by the police a .32 pistol that was stolen from slain businessman, Barbot Paul was found on him.

The Agricola, East Bank Demerara resident is said to be a key figure in the Buxton/Agricola gang, which has terrorised citizens over the years.

Police sources told Stabroek News that Charles is being investigated for murders committed as far back as 2004. Around 9 pm on Friday, acting on information received, the police arrested Charles, 21, outside of a city hotel.

They had said, too, that Paul's .32 pistol along with three magazines and 29 live matching rounds were recovered from the fugitive. Two other men who were in the company of Charles were also arrested by the police and during continuing police operations in the city and on the East Bank of Demerara, ranks arrested a third man who is a resident of Agricola. Stabroek News has been unable to ascertain the identities of the other men and whether they had any connections with the criminal gang Charles is alleged to have been a part of.

Pressmen Mark Mikoo, Chetram Persaud, Eion Wegman and Richard Stewart were executed by a band of gunmen who stormed the Kaieteur News printery on Tuesday night. Another pressman Shazeem Mohamed was seriously wounded and he succumbed at the Georgetown hospital on Sunday. Security guard, Julian De Grace was also wounded in the melee. Wordsworth Grey of Bagotstown was also killed during the attack.

The police last month had issued wanted bulletins for Charles and five others in connection with the deaths of Minister Sawh, his two siblings and his security guard.

The other men are: notorious prison escapee, Troy Dick who has been on the run since February 23, 2002 when he and four others made a bloody escape from the Camp Street penitentiary. Rondel 'Fineman' Rawlins of Agricola, Orlando Andrews known as 'Biscuit' or Jeffrey of Buxton, David Zammett called David Leander or `Bullet' of Buxton and Richard Daniels called `Chucky' of Agricola.

The police also issued bulletins for four other men who are wanted but did not say in connection with which investigation. They are: 'Cash' and 'Not Nice' of Buxton, `Sonny' of Agricola and `John Kirby' also of the same village. Gunmen had robbed and killed Paul and had stolen his .32 firearm a few days before the Kaieteur News attack.

The said weapon, according to the police was used to kill some of the Kaieteur News pressmen. Charles was found with the weapon when he was arrested on Friday night. Police had said that the gang that robbed and killed Paul resembled the Agricola/ Buxton gang. (Stabroek News)

The Joint Services were last night continuing the massive and relentless operation in the swampy and dense back lands of specific areas in Berbice and were said to be closing in on the remaining bank robbers after killing three of them in an armed confrontation Sunday morning.

The operation was launched immediately after last Friday’s daring daylight bank robbery in the bustling Rose Hall township in Berbice where a gang of about 15 heavily armed men brazenly robbed two banks before using persons as human shields to flee towards the back lands.

Three of the men involved in the robbery were killed in a shootout with members of the Joint Services after they were cornered in a swampy area southwest of Brotherson along the Canje Creek, Berbice on Sunday, officials said.

Two more AK-47 rifles, four matching magazines and three large bags with a quantity of Guyana currency were also recovered the same day by the Joint Services, Home Affairs Minister, Ms. Gail Teixeira told reporters Sunday. Three of the missing AK-47 assault rifles that mysteriously disappeared from the Army headquarters in Georgetown earlier this year have so far been recovered in the operation.

Army spokesman Lieutenant Col Claude Fraser last night said the operation was continuing and the Joint Services ranks were closing in on the remaining criminals. He, however, declined to comment further noting that divulging certain information for public consumption could serve to compromise the ongoing operation.

At a press conference Sunday, Teixeira said the three bandits who were killed had not yet been identified. The men had still not been identified up to press time last night.

The minister disclosed that three ‘salt bags’ packed with Guyana currency, believed to be a substantial part of the money stolen from the Demerara Bank and the Republic Bank during Friday’s daring and “theatrical” bank robbery in Rose Hall, were recovered by the Joint Services. She noted that on Sunday morning, the Joint Services encountered the bandits in very difficult swamplands and three were shot dead.

The minister at that time also hinted that the events of the first 48 hours of the operation will “help to unravel” some of the mystery surrounding the crime scourge plaguing Guyana and eating away at the very fabric of Guyanese society. She was also referring to the capture and arrest of several persons, including two wanted men, in separate incidents over the weekend in Georgetown and Berbice.

One of the wanted men in custody is 21-year-old Jermaine Charles, called “Skinny”, who was captured outside a hotel in Georgetown Friday night. He was wanted by the police for questioning in the investigation of the execution-style murder of Minister of Agriculture Mr. Satyadeow Sawh, two of his siblings and his security guard in April this year.

Charles is also a suspect in last week’s barbaric execution-style slaying of five Kaieteur News pressmen (four died on the spot and one succumbed Sunday) and the murder of businessman Barbot Paul of Kaneville, East Bank Demerara.

The .32 pistol stolen from Barbot Paul along with three magazines and 29 live matching rounds were recovered by the police. Teixeira said two other men who were with Jermaine Charles were also arrested by the police Friday night, and a fourth man was held Sunday morning.

The police last week announced that through ballistic and intelligence records, they had made a link between the persons who two Sunday nights ago shot Paul dead, the execution-style murder of the Kaieteur News printery employees and those involved in the killing of Bagotstown businessman, Wordsworth Grey last Tuesday night.

The two banks robbed in the precision operation that lasted under 15 minutes at Rose Hall town Friday remained closed for business yesterday. An advertisement on a regional television station said the banks will be reopened tomorrow. However, customers can access the services at the other branches of Republic Bank at Corriverton and New Amsterdam.

A source at Republic Bank told this newspaper that three unknown men went to the Rose Hall bank branch Thursday and exchanged a large quantity of foreign currency. According to the source, the men were not known cambio dealers or businessmen. However, their presence was a cause of concern.

The source said it was not customary for that branch to have such a large sum of money available, but a big payment was to be made Friday to the Guyana Sugar Corporation and it is believed the gang knew about this. (Guyana Cronicle)Mark Ramotar/Additional reporting by Jeune Bailey Van-Keric)

Three men who were part of a large gang that robbed two commercial banks in Berbice last Friday were gunned down by members of the Joint Services during a shoot-out up the Canje River early yesterday morning.

The men have so far been unidentified and according to reports, two senior police officers from the city have travelled to Berbice to assist with their identification.

Yesterday the Joint Services members also recovered two more AK-47 assault rifles to add to one found on Saturday along with an M-70 rifle.

It has been confirmed that the AK-47's are part of a cache which was stolen from the Guyana Defence Force Headquarters, Camp Ayanganna in February this year.

The ranks also recovered three bags with an undisclosed amount in Guyana currency. A source told Kaieteur News that the amount could be close to $11 million.

A number of magazines as well as ammunition were also found yesterday and on Saturday.

On Friday afternoon the security forces had launched a manhunt for the bank robbers who reportedly used GUYSUCO employees working in the cane fields of Rose Hall as human shields in their getaway. The men eventually crossed the Canje Creek. That same day three men in a boat in the Canje Creek off Lochaber, West Canje , were arrested by the Joint Services ranks.

One of the men is wanted by the Police in relation to robbery under arms and murder committed in the Enterprise, ECD area last June 1 during which Ramjit Rampersaud called “ Roy ” was fatally shot.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs Gail Teixeira said that the present search for the bank robbers will probably be the longest continuous manhunt in Guyana. “On Sunday, the Joint Services encountered the bandits in difficult swamplands and three were shot and they are dead,” the Minister confirmed.

Kaieteur News understands that one of the men met his demise at Brotherson and the other two at another location. The Joint Service teams are still at a number of locations. A source said that the remaining bank robbers are not far off.

During Saturday the teams spotted the men who were continuing their escape bid several miles up the Canje River in deep jungle. A source told the Kaieteur News, “They are tired and they started shedding the weight since Friday. They dropped articles of clothing and some other things.”

A police source opined that the members of the gang are disoriented since their plot was foiled when the suspected getaway boat was intercepted on the Canje River not far from Lochaber on Friday. “They are in swamp up to their necks and if they go further, the water will get deeper,” a source told this newspaper.

Additionally the men's chances of survival appear to be very slim since according to Minister Teixeira, should they engage the Joint Service ranks as they appear to be doing, they will be eliminated.

“If it is possible to catch them then obviously, but if it is impossible then it is shoot to kill. If they're caught in an encounter and it is the lives of the Joint Services men against the bandits, I think you know which way it is going to go,” the Minister told the media. An aircraft is being used to boost the operation.

Just after 11:00 hours on Friday a gang of heavily armed men stormed the Town of Rose Hall and robbed the Demerara Bank and Republic Bank. The two are located oblique to each other on the Rose Hall Public Road . Some $80 million was said to be removed from both banking institutions.

Human beings were used as road blocks as gunmen forced them to lie across the Corentyne roadway while they pulled off the robbery. The men arrived in the town from different directions and in small groups. They then took out the guns from bags they had on them. The loot was later placed in jute bags.

The only reported casualty during the robbery was 39-year-old Surujdai Virasammy of Lancaster Villager, Corentyne. She was a customer at the Republic Bank when the men entered. The woman was shot in the left shoulder. After the bandits fled the scene, she was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she was admitted.

Kaieteur News understands that the banks in Berbice were advised to be on the alert the very morning. This incident was reminiscent of the reign of terror that gripped Rose Hall Town about three years ago.

Minister Teixeira said that the current Joint Service operation is a two-pronged one, both in the city and its environs, as well as in Berbice. With regards to identifying the whereabouts of the other missing army weapons, Minister Teixeira said that the work being carried out by the security forces in terms of the persons in custody can be helpful.

The Minister said that the nation is well aware that there has been one particular gang that has been responsible for what she described as the spate of theatrical and high-drama incidents which include executions. “If we are able to miniaturize that gang or dismantle it then I am certain that we will see a change in the crime profile of Guyana ,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

Teixeira told the media that she believes that some of the events that are taking place and some of the coincidences in relation to the events which have created a sense of deep insecurity are part of a systematic terror campaign.

“I do not believe that the criminals alone are capable of doing that by themselves. There may be others who have an interest. The events of the last 48 hours may help to unravel all of that, to prove me wrong in what I am saying or to prove me right.

“The operations are massive and I am sure that what will come out of it will give greater clarity to that opinion,” Teixeira said. Meanwhile, the Republic Bank at Rose Hall would remain closed today and tomorrow. The New Amsterdam , Corriverton and Rosignol branches are to function as normal. (Kaieteur News)

Police have detained wanted man Jermaine Charles, called ‘Skinny', and three other alleged members of the gang that slaughtered five Kaieteur News employees and a shopkeeper last Tuesday. A police official confirmed yesterday that the gang leader, 19-year-old Charles, said to be from Buxton and Agricola, was arrested by members of a mobile patrol in front of a South Road hotel at around 21:00hrs Friday night.

At the time of his arrest, Skinny was said to be laying the ground work for a robbery at a Sheriff Street night spot. A police press release stated that two other men who were in the company of Jermaine Charles were also arrested by the police.

Kaieteur News understands that the two men have been identified as Gopaul Persaud, 24, of Third Street , Agricola and Dwight Da Silva; they are both members of a 10-man Agricola gang. The men who were arrested by a special squad from the police ‘A' Division have reportedly confessed to several robberies and killings in the Eccles and McDoom areas.

One source told this newspaper that Gopaul was the member who identified persons to be robbed. The source also said that Charles was the gang ring leader who has expressed no fear of being killed. He reportedly told the police that the only thing certain in life is death.

At the time of his arrest, Charles was armed with the .32 revolver that was stolen from slain Kaneville resident, Barbot Paul. The gun was also used in the killing of five Kaieteur News employees during an assault on the Eccles press site last Tuesday night.

Acting on information, the police were able to nab the other suspect at his home in Agricola during a police operation around 03:00 hours. Investigations are being conducted to determine the involvement of the three other men.

In a recent wanted bulletin, police had named Charles, along with several other known gunmen, as being “members of a criminal enterprise” which executed Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh, his siblings and security guard at Earl's Court, LBI last April.

Eyewitnesses to last Tuesday night's attack said members of the gang also included persons who had killed a 12-year-old boy in McDoom. Some of the gang members were said to be no more than 12-years old. The gunmen first went to Bagotstown, where they killed businessman Wordsworth Grey.

They then headed for Eccles, where they stormed the Kaieteur News printery, shooting employees Mark Maikoo, Eion Wegman, Chetram Persaud, Richard Stewart and Shazeem Mohamed at the back of their heads. Mohamed died yesterday morning at the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital , bringing the death toll to six as a result of Tuesday night's carnage.

Security guard Julius Degrace is in a stable condition. Meanwhile, this newspaper was reliably informed that the attack on the Kaieteur News was spontaneous. A source disclosed that one of the arrested suspects claimed that they were on the hunt for firearms from security guards in the area.

The suspect reportedly stated that the killer of the Kaieteur News staff was a trigger-happy member of the gang who loved to kill.

And Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira at a press conference yesterday said she believes that the heightened Joint Services operations will bring closure to a large section of the bandits that have been responsible for many of the dramatic and terrible killings in Guyana .

She appealed to persons who are linked to the criminals to disassociate themselves and to come forward and assist the security forces. She declined to comment on the circumstances that led to the suspects' arrest but pointed to the old adage that crime doesn't pay.

“Maybe people become too complacent; they become too confident that they have not been found for so long that maybe they become careless,” Minister Teixeira said. “We want to recognise the work of the police in getting Skinny, who has been wanted in these murders,” she added. (Kaieteur News)

THREE BANK ROBBERS KILLED

..........in massive police, army operation

* Three of the missing Army AK-47 assault rifles recovered
* Three ‘salt bags’ of money recovered
* Two wanted men among several others arrested
* Kaneville businessman’s handgun used to execute Kaieteur News pressmen recovered
* Wanted man connected to executions of Minister Sawh/Kaieteur News staffers captured

THREE of the suspects involved in last Friday’s daring daylight robbery of two banks at Rose Hall were yesterday killed in an armed confrontation with members of the Joint Services in a swampy area southwest of Brotherson, Canje Creek, Berbice.

Two more AK 47 rifles, four matching magazines and three large bags with a quantity of Guyana currency were also recovered yesterday by the Joint services who are said to be “hotly pursuing” the other bank-robbers and closing in on them in the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) back-lands in the Berbice area.

Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira, told reporters at a hastily called news conference yesterday afternoon at the NCN television studio in Georgetown that the three bandits who were killed have not yet been identified.

According to the Minister, three ‘salt bags’ packed with Guyana currency, believed to be a substantial part of the money stolen from the Demerara Bank and the Republic Bank during Friday’s daring and “theatrical” bank robbery in Rose Hall, were also recovered by the Joint Services yesterday.

“The Joint Services have been hotly pursuing the bank robbers who hit the Demerara Bank and Republic Bank on Friday morning; this is now 48 hours later and the bandits are on the run and are been hotly pursued,” the Minister told reporters shortly after 14:00 h yesterday, even as the operation was ongoing.

“On Sunday (yesterday), the joint services encountered the bandits in very difficult swamplands. Three were shot dead. They have not been identified as yet. They have recovered two more AK-47s, four magazines and three bags of Guyana currency,” Minister Teixeira told reporters.

“We do not as yet have the identity of the three men (bandits) nor do we have an idea of the quantity of Guyana money that has been recovered,” she said. She also hinted that “the events of the last 48 hours will help to unravel” some of the mystery that surrounds the crime scourge plaguing Guyana and eating away at the very fabric of the Guyanese society.

“It is a massive joint services operations…,” the Minister disclosed. The Minister also noted that there has been “some air surveillances” during the ongoing operation launched in the wake of the bank robbery.

On Friday last, less than two days after the massacre of five persons on the East Bank Demerara, another heavily-armed gang stormed into the bustling Rose Hall town in Berbice in broad daylight, shooting a woman in the back while robbing two banks.

And in another brazen display of firepower and military-like precision, the gang rounded up and forced people in the area to form a human barrier to block the main road to carry out the robbery attacks.

The banks so far have not disclosed the amount of money stolen but reports are that it is a “very large and substantial amount”, running into tens of millions of dollars. Immediately following the robbery, the Joint Services launched a “massive” operation in the Berbice area to capture the criminals.

The joint services ranks immediately pursued the bandits after the robbery and encountered them at Brotherson. However, Minister Teixeira said, the bandits made good their escape by commandeering a boat and crossing the Canje Creek.

A search of the area was conducted by the Joint Services ranks and the following items found: one AK-47 rifle, one M-70 rifle, six magazines, 57 live matching rounds, a bullet proof vest and a quantity of clothing, which included a toque that was used as a mask.

Later that evening (Friday), the Joint Services ranks arrested three men in a boat in the Canje Creek off Lochaber, West Canje.

Teixeira said one of the three persons arrested and in custody is wanted by the police as he is a prime suspect involved in a robbery/murder that took place recently in Enterprise, East Coast Demerara.

The Joint Services later confirmed that the man is wanted by the Police in relation to a robbery under arms and murder committed in the Enterprise area last June, during which Ramjit Rampersaud, called “Roy”, was fatally shot.

On the evening of June 1 this year, Rampersaud and his sister Seuranie Rampersaud were sitting on a bench on the Enterprise embankment road awaiting transportation when one of three gunmen casually went up and sat between them, and shot the man in his chest at close range.

The murdered Ramjit is survived by a 13-year-old daughter, 11 siblings and scores of relatives. Shortly before that brutal and cold-blooded incident, five men carrying AK-47 rifles terrorised worshippers at the Non Pariel Hindu mandir and attacked a next door business place. The gang appeared just after 18:00 h when the mandir on Sixth Street was filled with worshippers at the usual Thursday night service and held them up.

Immediately following the murder of Rampersaud and the terrorising of residents in Non Pariel and Enterprise, the joint services launched an operation in the area and found a rusted high-powered AK-47 rifle in a clump of bushes.

In addition to the rifle, three magazines and 90 matching rounds of ammunition were also recovered. The wanted man’s name was not disclosed by the Minister nor the Joint Services yesterday. Meanwhile, the joint services ranks continued their relentless pursuit of the criminals in the Berbice backlands all day Saturday, and in a confrontation yesterday morning, the three bandits were killed.

‘SKINNY’ ARRESTED:

Minister Teixeira also said several persons, including two wanted men, have been arrested in separate incidents over the weekend in Georgetown and Berbice, and are currently in custody.

One of the wanted men, 21-year-old Jermaine Charles, called “Skinny”, was captured outside of a hotel in Georgetown on Friday night.

He was wanted by the police for questioning in the investigation of the execution-style murder of Minister of Agriculture Mr. Satyadeow Sawh and his siblings in April this year.

Charles is also a suspect in the last week’s barbaric execution-style slaying of five Kaieteur News pressmen (four died on the spot and one succumbed yesterday) and the recent murder of businessman Barbot Paul of Kaneville, East Bank Demerara. The .32 pistol stolen from Barbot Paul along with three magazines and twenty nine live matching rounds were recovered by the police.

Minister Teixeira said two other men who were in the company of Jermaine Charles were also arrested by the police on Friday night, and a fourth man was arrested yesterday morning. Up to press time, their identities have not been revealed.

The fourth suspect was arrested at his home in Agricola around 03:00 h yesterday morning during a police operation in the city and on the East Bank of Demerara. The Police said investigations are being conducted to determine the involvement of the three other men.

The police last week announced that through ballistic and intelligence records, they have made a link among the persons who two Sunday nights ago shot dead Kaneville businessman, Barbot Paul, the execution-style murder of four Kaieteur News printery employees and those involved in the killing of Bagotstown businessman, Wordsworth Grey last Tuesday night.

Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, at a news conference last Wednesday, said that following the tests and a perusal of police records, “it was clear that Barbot Paul’s gun was used at the scene” of Tuesday’s massacre.

According to him, the tests were carried out on 35 – 7.62 x 39 spent shells retrieved from the 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown killing scene, and nine matched shells collected at the Kaneville scene, indicating they were fired from the same gun.

Also, a .32 shell retrieved from Kaneville, along with 11 similar rounds, have matched what the Police had in records in relation to the .32 gun stolen from Paul the night he was murdered.

President Bharrat Jagdeo has described last Tuesday night’s execution of the four pressmen and another man as a most cowardly and dastardly attack on press freedom and one intended to instil fear in the minds of all Guyanese.

The President told a news conference at the Office of the President that while he does not want to speculate on the possible motive for the brazen attack, he cannot help but believe that it was orchestrated by “an intelligent mind”.

“The type of society we are trying to build today in Guyana came under attack on Tuesday night - and that is a society characterised by freedom, tolerance and respect for each other,” he said. He also said the attack by “some cowards in the most brutal manner” can be viewed as a calculated and deliberate attack on “a free and independent press”.

There has also been widespread condemnation from all sections of society and even internationally on Tuesday’s incident which has sent shockwaves throughout Guyana.

But Minister Teixeira yesterday indicated that the events over the week-end augurs well and will go towards unraveling and demolishing the criminal network in Guyana.

“We feel that the activities of the Joint Services in the last 48 hours (is very commendable); in fact I believe this is the longest sustained manhunt by the Joint Services; right now they are in the back-lands going after the others, ” the Minister told reporters.

She also expressed optimism that these heightened operations will “bring closure” to a large part of the criminal enterprise that has been responsible for many of the dramatic and terrible killings in Guyana.

Teixeira also used the news conference as an opportunity to publicly compliment the Joint Services for their effective and unrelenting operations over the last 48 hours and encourage them to continue the pursuit and dismantling of this criminal network.

She also reminded the public that there are awards for the discovery and arrest of wanted persons who have been part of the conspiracy to remove the AK-47s from the GDF headquarters and who are also responsible or wanted or suspected in the murders of Minister Sash Sawh and a number of other murders, including the most recent ones last week.

Asked whether the Police and Army has, in this current operation, adopted a ‘shoot to kill’ policy, Minister Teixeira responded: “If it is possible to capture them (criminals) obviously they will be captured, but if it is impossible to capture them, then it is shoot to kill. If they are caught in an encounter and it is the lives of the Joint Services men against the bandits, I think you know which way it is going to go.”

Teixeira also noted that the Guyanese populace is “well aware” that there is one particular gang that has notoriously been known as “the Buxton gang” which is linked or responsible for “a large percentage of these very theatrical, high drama incidents which includes executions”, as was seen during the slaying of the Kaieteur News pressmen last week.

“So if we are able to dismantle the gang, then I am certain we will see a change in the crime profile in Guyana,” the Minister said, adding that those currently in custody will be grilled to provide information about this criminal network.

RECOVERY OF AK-47s

Meanwhile, the recovery of the three AK-47s – two yesterday and one on Friday – is seen as the first major breakthrough by the Joint Services in their committed efforts so far to recover the high-powered weapons that disappeared from the Army’s Camp Ayanganna base in Georgetown a few months ago.

The three AK-47 rifles recovered (one Friday and two yesterday) have been identified as being among the 30 stolen from the GDF last February.

The GDF had even sought help from the United States Army to recover the 30 high-powered AK-47 rifles and five pistols stolen from the weapons storage bond at Camp Ayanganna.

News that the AK-47 M rifles and five pistols were stolen from the GDF base raised fears that the automatic weapons may have been sold to criminal gangs, including those holed out in the back lands in Buxton on the East Coast Demerara, known to use AK-47s in attacks.

President Jagdeo had vowed that “whatever it takes”, the Army will go out and recover the weapons. The guns were believed to have been spirited out of the storage bond through ventilation mesh cut close to the top of the building.

A $3M reward has also been offered for information leading to the recovery of the weapons. (Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronical)

Two murdered Kaieteur News pressmen cremated

Two of the four Kaieteur News pressmen who were brutally executed Tuesday night at its printery at the Industrial Site, Eccles, East Bank Demerara, were cremated yesterday afternoon.

Mark Maikoo, called “Marko”, 22, of 5 Yarrow Dam was cremated at the Good Hope Crematorium, East Coast Demerara shortly after 13:00 h with his family members and relatives wailing loudly as they stood by and watched.

And, Chetram Persaud, called “Boyo’, 46, of 76 CC Eccles, East Bank Demerara, was cremated at the Ruimzeight foreshore.

A large throng of mourners gathered to pay their last respects, goodbyes including his colleagues, and other Kaieteur News employees, family members and relatives. The funerals were very emotional as many cried openly for the men whom they worked with and knew well. Family members collapsed several times during the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the fifth pressman who was shot in the head at point blank range at the printery died yesterday morning.

Shazeem Mohamed 29, of 267 BB Eccles, East Bank Demerara who was hospitalised in a critical condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital succumbed without regaining consciousness.

His wife, who arrived in Guyana Saturday night, was yesterday too distraught to speak.

She visited him yesterday morning and when she returned home she received a telephone call and learnt of his death. The bullet was lodged in his head and he was on a life support system for several days.

Relatives said he only started working with Kaieteur News about three months ago and got married a year ago. In the attack at the printery Tuesday night, security guard Julian De Grace, 66, was also shot, but not fatally.

The pyre of Mark Maikoo burning at Good Hope Crematorium, East Coast Demerara yesterday afternoon.

The men killed are Chetram Persaud, Mark Maikoo, Eion Wegman, 47, of 51 Fourth Street, Alberttown; and Richard Stewart, 24, of 239 Lamaha Park East La Penitence.

The fifth man killed is Wordsworth Grey, 32, of 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown. He was also shot dead shortly before gunmen invaded the Kaieteur News printery.

Meanwhile, Richard Stewart will be buried today at the Le Repentir Cemetery, and Eion Wegman will be buried tomorrow. (Michele Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)

Police had warning before Rose Hall attack

Teixeira

The Police Force received prior warning about an impending attack before Friday’s bank robberies at Rose Hall town in Corentyne, Berbice, according to Minister of Home Affairs, Gail Teixeira.

Speaking to a small gathering to mark the official opening of the Tuschen Policing Group Outpost on the East Bank Essequibo yesterday afternoon, the minister said that while information coming into the Guyana Police Force (GPF) from public sources had been virtually non-existent over the greater part of the past two years, in recent times the situation has been improving.

She stated that while information from a public source did not provide any specific reference as to what was going to take place, or where it was going to take place, it was credible enough to take seriously and cause some amount of preparation within the force.

She noted that while the Rose Hall bank robberies did in fact take place, the mobilisation the tip off prompted has resulted in the detention of several persons. “The pursuit is continuing,” Teixeira said. “We are on their heels and we have pulled out all the stops.”

The bank robbers, she stated, were late yesterday afternoon being cornered in an area of the Port Mourant backlands with the Joint Services closing in on them. Teixeira said a 13-year-old boy who was part of the gang has been held.

A senior police source confirmed that three men are in custody assisting in the investigations of the daring daylight robbery at the two commercial banks in Berbice

He said the men, who were in a boat, were captured Friday by members of the Joint Services who carried out a raid in the Rose Hall backlands which led to Canje Creek and Lochaber, West Canje.

According to the source, the men were nabbed in the vicinity of Lochaber and on being questioned by cops, said they were there to purchase marijuana. He said two AK-47 rifles were found at Brotherson, another area in the riverain community, some distance from where the three men were seen.

Teixeira stated that while there has been criticism of the Police Force and its response time to serous incidents, the fact that the easiest path of escape for the bank robbers had been cut off was indicative of the increasing readiness of the GPF to take on the criminals.

During her feature address, Teixeira noted that the robberies, the shootings and other events all took place since the beginning of this month, during which elections are to be held. “We are not ruling out that [possibility] that this is not coincidental,” said Teixeira.

Speaking to the media after the official event, the minister stated that the men who carried out the attack on Kaieteur News and those who robbed the Rose Hall banks were the same men, and were also most likely involved in the attack at Agricola earlier this year during which eight people were killed. She noted that the bank robbers had AK-47 rifles, weapons used in the attack in February.

She stated that both recent incidents were designed to instil fear in the general population and prevent people from going about their daily lives. “I would say that they are part of a systematic terror campaign,” stated Teixeira, “This is not what ordinary criminals do, the high drama, going about in daylight, the commando style.”

She also stated that the people involved, as evidenced from the Kaieteur News killings on Tuesday night, were serial killers and sociopaths since it takes an extreme mindset to order somebody to the ground before shooting them.

Teixeira told reporters she and acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene were scheduled to give an important statement sometime today, although she would not clarify on what issue.

COMMUNITY POLICING

Teixeira stressed the role of community policing in helping to combat crime. In addressing the persons gathered there on the importance of community policing groups, the minister said that they served to help prevent criminals from gaining footholds in the community.

“We need to ensure that there is not another Buxton,” Teixeira said, “…we don’t want to see another community going through what the people of Buxton have gone through for the past four years.”

She stated that complacency in the face of criminal intrusion into communities is unwise, since it results in problems which the community members have no way to resolve. “All of a sudden you have a viper in your breast,” Teixeira stated, “and you can’t rip it away.”

She said people who facilitate crime by providing food and other types of support for criminals in their communities are just as guilty as those who actually pull the triggers. She also announced that the Attorney General has been asked to draft legislation geared at dealing harshly with those who aid criminals.

The Home Affairs Minister urged residents of Tuschen to put the outpost to good use, suggesting that one activity that could be carried out was the hosting of self-defence classes for housewives, children and persons who have to walk into the community late at night. She said it was her hope that the place would be otherwise opened up to the community instead of it becoming a place for the boys to hang out and drink.

Teixeira stated that so far, the government’s initiative of creating special community based police ranks has resulted in just about 100 being filled out of the 500 openings available. She told the audience that community policing groups, working in tandem with the community-based police, the Guyana Police Force, agencies like the Customs and Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) had a crucial role to play in crime prevention in Guyana.

The outpost was provided through the assistance of the Ministry of Home Affairs, while construction was undertaken by R.C.S. Enterprise.

In his vote of thanks, Chairman of the Tuschen Community Policing Group, Mr. Nizam Khan, expressed his gratitude to the minister and all those involved and urged members of the community to not let the outpost become a white elephant. (Ruel Johnson/Guyana Cronicle)

THE mother of three who was shot in the back in the daring military-type robbery assault on two banks in Rose Hall town, Corentyne, Berbice Friday, had disobeyed orders from the raiders to their victims to hand over cell phones.

Relating the incident from her bed at the New Amsterdam Hospital yesterday, Surujdai Virasammi, 39, told the Sunday Chronicle she was waiting on her husband who was in a queue in Republic Bank, when she heard shots. She said she was sitting on a chair when the unmasked gunmen told those inside the bank to hand over their cell phones.

Some persons, she said, willingly surrendered theirs, but she did not give up the one she had in her bag because it was not hers. However, the phone she had rang, and one of the gunmen approached her demanding it.

Virasammi said she did not cooperate and the gunman snatched her bag and removed the cell phone and $10,000 in cash.

The woman, who is receiving an infusion and complaining of pains in the upper back, said she could not recall being shot, but remembered lying on the floor of the bank before being transported to the hospital where officials yesterday said her condition was stable.

Rose Hall was calm yesterday after the horrors of the siege that began around 11:00 h Friday when a heavily-armed gang stormed in to rob the Republic Bank and Demerara Bank branches along the main road. Stores and other business places reopened for business but the events of the previous day were uppermost in the minds of most people.

The Friday movie-like robbery attack was the second time in recent years that Rose Hall town was thrown into chaos and confusion by a heavily-armed gang.

On Friday, a group of men who witnesses said were between 18 to 35 years old, some of whom were masked and dressed in black, moved into the bustling town with large canvas bags. As they approached the busy business area, they whipped out guns from their bags and opened fire, forcing residents and others to flee for cover.

The gang of about 15 men rounded up and forced persons in the area to form a human line that blocked the main road while they stormed into and robbed the two banks. A senior police source yesterday said the bandits stole about $20M from the two banks.

The bandits took control of the town for about 30 minutes with the raids on the banks lasting under 15 minutes.

The Friday attack brought back memories of Monday July 22, 2002, when two Berbice Policemen and an Essequibo teenager were brutally killed in a midnight attack on the Rose Hall Police Outpost by a gang of heavily-armed men.

Killed in that attack were Constables Ramphal Pardat, called Clifton, of Lot 106 Ghanpat Street, Rose Hall town; Outar Kissoon of Number 52 Village, also on the Corentyne; and Essequibo resident Balram Khandai, 18, who was an observer at the just concluded People’s People Party 27th Congress, held at J.C. Chandisingh Secondary School.

During that attack too, Chinese restaurateur Jen Feng and businessman Mohammed Shamsudeen were robbed of cash and Sheik Hussain and his wife Hema were beaten and had to be hospitalized. Two guards of the Republic Bank, then NBIC, were also robbed of two revolvers, 12 rounds of ammunition and a communication set.

Rose Hall residents yesterday recalled that no one has been charged for that deadly attack. (Jeune Bailey van-Keric)

Georgetown Chamber urges:

Send GDF Special Forces after criminals

The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) feels the Special Forces of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) can rid the country of the murderous criminals terrorising the country and should be deployed against them. The call came Friday from chamber President and former GDF pilot, Captain Gerry Gouveia.

Pointing to the serious threats to national security from the recent criminal rampages, he said: “It is therefore imperative and of utmost urgency, that the Commander in Chief, President Bharrat Jagdeo, instructs the Chief of Staff to deploy the Guyana Defence Force Special Forces, on a search and apprehend mission, to rid the country of these armed gangs who roam, rob and kill at their whims and fancy.”

Gouveia also called for the GDF Air Corps to be deployed in support of the Special Forces, providing an airborne reconnaissance platform to ensure the success of this mission. "We are proud of the men of our Special Forces and plead with them to perform their duties with the honour, dignity and high level of professionalism and skill for which they are known."

He also called on acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene to immediately reconstitute and operationalise a special anti-crime squad which should be appropriately trained and equipped to take the offensive to criminals in the form of a no holds barred and relentless surgical operation.

This is required, the chamber said, because the greatest threat to the country’s economic and social development is the deteriorating internal security situation and the public lack of confidence in the Government’s apparent inability to ensure that the security forces produce results.

Gouveia told reporters that in the wake of Tuesday's barbaric slaying of five persons, the “cost of fear” is astronomical in Guyana and manifests itself in lost investment opportunities, a depressed tourism industry, increased migration and its accompanying brain drain, and suppression of public and private talent.

He said these extremely important factors, which are already in short supply, “are bled from our country daily” and said “should the situation remain this critical, we will descend to a state where we would no longer be able to sustain ourselves economically, socially and in the area of qualified human resources”.

“What good is a country which has a great physical infrastructure, but no crime prevention and control?” Gouveia questioned.

“We therefore firmly posit that now is the time for a reprioritizing of our national resources and the reorganization and redirecting of police and military resources to efficiently and effectively confront and apprehend these criminals,” the GCCI Head posited.

He said the Police Force must continue its regular law enforcement duties within the urban and rural areas and must remain in charge of domestic law enforcement operations.

The chamber also called on leaders at the national and community levels to urgently put aside their differences, work together to quickly diffuse this tense situation and give full support to the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force to effectively deal with the criminals.

“We will continue to ally our efforts with all key stakeholders to ensure that our nation can be a safe place to live, do business, invest and prosper,” Gouveia assured.

He said, too, that the chamber is “deeply saddened, but highly enraged” by the brutal slaughter of five more unarmed, innocent Guyanese citizens, last Tuesday night. “We condemn this action in the strongest possible terms,” Gouveia said. “We are now convinced that the stability of our country is seriously threatened by armed gangs operating from bases in the backlands and canefields,” he added.

“The Executive and Members of the Chamber wish to extend their sincere condolences to the families of the slain workers at the Kaieteur News plant and the driver that was also killed.”

Gouveia said the GCCI remains extremely concerned that unless this situation is dealt with immediately and effectively, the death toll will rise. (Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronicle)

More gun terror

Gang robs Rose Hall banks - Orders people to form human roadblock

Woman shot in back

SHATTERED: the glass door of Republic Bank after the robbery

Less than two days after the massacre of five persons on the East Bank Demerara, another heavily-armed gang stormed into the bustling Rose Hall town in Berbice in broad daylight yesterday, shooting a woman in the back while robbing two banks.

And in another brazen display of firepower and military-like precision, the gang rounded up and forced people in the area to form a human line to block the main road to carry out the robbery attacks.

Police said Surujdai Virasammi, 39, who had just withdrawn money from the Republic Bank branch in the town, was robbed of $10,000 and shot in the back. She was admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital, police said.

In a precision operation that last under 15 minutes, residents and other witnesses said they simultaneously approached the Republic Bank and Demerara Bank, which are near each other, firing shots indiscriminately.

ROBBED: Somattie Chintombie, left, and Parbatie Pertabsingh were among those robbed at Demerara Bank

People who first saw the men said they were carrying large canvas bags and as they approached they whipped out guns from the bags and opened fire, forcing residents and others to flee for cover.

Rose Hall residents said it was like in a Wild West movie, with bandits sweeping in and firing wildly to take over the town.

And to the horror of all those around, the gang ordered persons they found in the vicinity on the main road of the town to quickly form a human line which blocked the road. Among those commandeered into the human roadblock was a child, witnesses said.

Police said the gang members entered the banks, held the staff and customers at gunpoint and forced the two Managers to open the vaults, which were both emptied.

The gunmen, some masked and others without, escaped in various directions using motor vehicles which they hijacked outside the banks, and taking away the CCTV (Closed Circuit TV) recorder from the Republic Bank.

Police said they found several 7.62 spent shells and two live rounds at the scene. During the daring attack, the town was virtually shut down. Businesses quickly closed doors and vehicles disappeared from the main road.

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was plying his trade along the main road when he was alerted at about 11:10 h of the presence of two men dressed in black. He said the relative who informed him of the men’s presence, advised him to run but he decided otherwise.

The eyewitness said the men were armed with guns and were cranking the weapons on the road shoulder as they moved along.

Shortly afterwards, he said, the gunmen began to quickly walk towards him, and in the process ordered those they found to form a human barrier across the roadway.

The witness said that in company with a relative and a child, they too were ordered to join the line across the road where they stood facing west.

He said two armed men kept patrol in front of the barricade, while three stayed at the back. None of the 15 persons in the line were allowed to speak or move during the ordeal, he recalled.

As one set kept watch on the human roadblock, another group entered the Demerara Bank where they robbed several customers before requesting keys to the vault from the banking staff.

Rampersaud Pertab, a rice farmer of Black Bush Polder, had just completed changing a cheque for $500,000 and was waiting on his wife and another relative to complete their transactions when he saw two gunmen hurriedly enter the bank, requesting that everyone empty their purses, pockets and hand over everything they had.

The man said the money he had uplifted earlier, in addition to his gold band and fingerings valued at $600,000, were taken from him.

He told the Guyana Chronicle death stared him in the face and he straightaway remembered his four children, aged 12 to 8 years.

His wife, Somattie, still visibly shaken from the ordeal, lost a pair of gold jingles.

Parbattie Pertab, sister of Rampersaud, had also gone to cash a cheque but did not bother after the bandits entered. However, they robbed her of $5,000 in cash and jewellery. Following the robbery at the Demerara Bank, the bandits left the building and, according to witnesses, an accomplice asked them whether all was well.

The bank robbers responded in the affirmative and they then ordered those forced to form the human barrier across the road to move forward.

At Main and Independence Avenue, the terrified bunch was ordered to lie flat on the asphalt roadway, while some of the bandits swept into the Republic Bank. A child who was among the adults in the human barrier cried repeatedly because of the scorching heat from the asphalt road.

According to one eyewitness, the gunmen ordered the child’s relatives to remove him, but before they could do so, another couple quickly got up, taking the child with them and escaped. The parents, however, were afterwards reunited with the child.

At the Republic Bank, Sadik, a London-based Guyanese, said he was inside when he heard a shot at about 11:05 h.

At that moment, being military trained, he said he looked towards the door where he observed the guard closing the door, just before the tinted glass on it was shattered.

The customer said about five unmasked men then entered and demanded the film from the closed security camera, and did not stop firing shots until their demands were met. They also demanded keys to the vault and robbed customers of their cell phones.

Sadik said he for a moment forgot he was not in London, and dialled 999 seeking help. He said the female staff members cried uncontrollably during the ordeal which he estimated lasted about 10 minutes.

He said it appeared that the men’s demands were met as they left, taking two vehicles, one owned by acting Branch Manager of the bank, Imran Sakoo. Sadik said one of the guns the men had was an AK-47 rifle.

Those who were forced to form the human barricade fled after no one responded to the bandits’ demands for a driver for mini-buses parked nearby.

Witnesses said the gunmen had no getaway vehicle and were looking for a driver to help them escape.

However, the gang members who left the Republic Bank signalled their comrades to join them in the hijacked vehicles and they drove towards the back lands of Rose Hall, witnesses said.

Residents in that vicinity said the robbers fired shots indiscriminately as they left the town. The vehicles PFF 3748 and PFF 6369 were later found abandoned in the back lands and are under police guard.

Rose Hall residents were very vocal about the long time it took for police or soldiers to arrive at the scene. The police arrived 30 minutes after the bandits escaped, residents said. It was observed that the Police Outpost a street away remained shut during and after the attack.

President of the Central Corentyne Chamber of Commerce Mr. Adrian Anamayah said the body was very concerned about the attack and although it has been very vocal and outspoken about crime, the situation seems totally out of control. He said the chamber is calling on the armed forces to arrest the situation.

Yesterday’s chilling attack at Rose Hall came after the Tuesday night massacre when a gang of heavily-armed gunmen swept into the East Bank Demerara villages of Bagotstown, Eccles and Agricola, leaving five dead.

Four of those killed execution-style were members of the printing staff of the Kaieteur News newspaper at the Eccles printery. (Jeune Bailey Van-Keric/Guyana Cronicle)

August 11, 2006

Guyana Police Force reforms

Ex-New York Top Cop to help

President Bharrat Jagdeo meets former New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik at State House. (Photo, courtesy Office of the President)

Former New York Police Commissioner and a nominee for the powerful post of Head of Homeland Security in the United States, Mr Bernard Kerik has been in discussions with the Guyana Government and is slated to play an integral part in planned restructuring and reforms of the Guyana Police Force, President Bharrat Jagdeo announced yesterday.

President Jagdeo, at a news conference at the Presidential Secretariat in Georgetown, confirmed that a reputable security consultancy firm owned and headed by Kerik would be contracted by the Guyana Government to play a major role in the post-elections reforms planned for the Police Force. He said Keric was in Guyana where he had discussions with him on the planned reforms for the GPF.

The President, however, noted that Kerik has had “some difficulties” with the law on “an ethics issue” and had to do a plea bargain. Mr. Jagdeo said this, however, did not detract from Kerik’s incredible experience, so much so that President Bush even nominated him for a top job.

Had he secured that position for which he was nominated, Kerik would have been in charge of some of the biggest agencies in the U.S., such as Customs and Immigration. “I met with him and he will be working with us in the post-elections period along with the Scottish police and the British government in the reform process,” the President told reporters.

A few months ago, President Jagdeo hinted at the possibility of foreigners filling some line positions within the Guyana Police Force as part of a multi-billion-dollar enhancement and restructuring programme to improve its crime fighting capabilities and effectiveness.

Guyana recently concluded negotiations for a US$20M (G$4B) loan to help improve and restructure the Police Force. This is in addition to the billions of dollars the Guyana Government is spending yearly trying to improve the overall security situation in Guyana.

“Like Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, I do not have any major objections to foreigners even filling some line positions to bring in the requisite levels of skills and capacity to the force,” Mr. Jagdeo had told a news conference in Berbice in June this year.

The President yesterday assured that the top leadership in the Police Force will be involved in this reform process.

“…what we are seeking to do is to create a better police force and to give them greater tools to tackle these criminals,” the President said, adding that these reforms could also see the establishment of “special units” within the force to deal with some specific types of criminality.

“Mr. Kerik has a firm and that firm will work with us. So it is not necessarily that Mr. Kerik will be heading a unit but his firm will be working with Guyana on the reform of the Police Force,” the President said.

On December 3, 2004, Kerik was nominated by President Bush to serve as the second Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His qualifications for the post span his entire career, but most recently he served as Iraq’s interim Minister of Interior and the Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Presidential Envoy to Iraq’s Coalition Provisional Authority.

Arriving in Baghdad just days after coalition forces invaded, Kerik was responsible for beginning the reconstitution and reinstatement of Iraq’s interior ministry including the national police service and borders enforcement. Prior to his service in Iraq, Kerik served as the 40th Police Commissioner of the City of New York.

He also served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction where he was responsible for an US$830M budget, a uniformed and civilian workforce of 13,000 and approximately 125,000 annual inmate admissions.

Kerik earned international recognition after creating a management and accountancy programme that received accolades from the Innovations in American Government Award Programme sponsored by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He began his professional career in the U.S. Army’s Military Police Corps, serving in Korea. He also served as the Commander of Special Weapons and Operations and Warden of the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey before accepting an appointment to the NYPD where his meteoric rise through its ranks is legendary.

As a New York City Police detective assigned to the DEA, Kerik was responsible for overseeing one of the most substantial drug investigations in U.S. history against the Cali cartel.

He earned more than 100 awards for meritorious, heroic and public service throughout his career, including the New York City Police Department’s Medal for Valor, a Presidential Commendation for heroism from President Ronald Regan and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Sacred Military Constintenian Order of Saint George by the Duke of Calabria, Italy.

On February 13, 2002, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second also honoured him with an honourary appointment as Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

Today, Kerik serves as Chairman and CEO of the Kerik Group which provides U.S. and international clientele, unparalleled homeland and national security solutions and crime reduction strategies and speaks on lecture circuit for the Washington Speaker’s Bureau.

He is the best-selling author of ‘The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice’. He holds a black belt in both Korean and Japanese Karate, has served on the Terrorism Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and as Chairman of the New York State Athletic and Boxing Commission.

Kerik also currently serves on the Emergency Response Senior Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council and the Criminal Justice Advisory Council of St. John’s University in New York City. (Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronicle)

Tuesday night massacre was calculated

President Jagdeo

PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said Tuesday night’s execution of four pressmen and another man was a most cowardly and dastardly attack on press freedom and one intended to instil fear in the minds of all Guyanese.

“This was cold blooded, it was targeted, it was deliberate, they (killers) went there for that purpose (to kill),” declared a solemn-looking but visible angry Guyanese Head of State. Although there are many investigations going on about the possible motives of the brutal attack, the President said “the act in itself is one of the most cowardly in our country”.

Five men were executed and several others wounded when a large group of gunmen unleashed terror on three villages on the East Bank Demerara late Tuesday night. Four of those killed were pressmen working at the Kaieteur News printery at Eccles Industrial Site, East Bank.

Dead are Chetram Persaud, 46, of Lot 76 CC Eccles; Eion Wegman, 47, of Lot 51 Fourth Street, Alberttown, Georgetown; Richard Stewart, 24, of Lot 239 Lamaha Park, East La Penitence; Mark Mikoo, 22, of Lot 5 Company Park, Yarrow Dam, La Penitence, and Wordsworth Grey, 32, of Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown.

Another Kaieteur News pressman, Shazeem Mohamed, of Lot 267 BB Eccles and the security guard at the printery, Julian De Grace, were nursing gunshot wounds at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation yesterday.

There has been widespread condemnation, both locally and internationally, of the monstrous attack, viewed in some quarters as probably the biggest attack on press freedom in Guyana.

“I wish to express condolences to the families of all those who have lost loved ones and also the families of those who are still lying in the hospital fighting for their lives. I would also like to express deep condolences to the owner, editor and staff of Kaieteur News for this tragic loss. I know the camaraderie that exists at this newspaper and I am sure that they would have felt the loss in a personal way,” the President said.

He contended that the attack on the Kaieteur News printery was done in a “very deliberate way”. “I know that this attack would not only cause serious grief in many quarters but I feel personally that it may be designed to create fear in the minds of many people.”

The President said he will not, at this point in time, speculate on the possible motives behind Tuesday’s gruesome bloodbath but noted that it has increased “the fear in society”. He said if the criminals can target members of the press fraternity, then one is left to wonder who they would not able to target.

“We are not jumping to conclusions…but I think there is an intelligent mind behind this (and) the police will have to do their work and pursue all the leads,” he asserted. He noted that once press people are targeted, there will inevitably be international negative publicity.

“These people were not killed in war times but killed in a relatively peaceful environment and if you target pressmen or press women then the international publicity that you get is phenomenal,” the President said, adding that ever since the incident, the Police Commissioner has already been called by press bodies from around the world.

“It reverberates not just throughout Guyana but around the world and therefore I think there is an intelligent mind behind this,” he said, while simultaneously trying to refrain from “jumping to conclusions”.

“So, I think in a way there is an intelligent mind behind all of this but I will not speculate (and) I would not speculate whether there was a link between the prison and what took place there; I leave that for the police to go and do their investigative work.”

“We all as a society have to condemn this act because it goes to the core of what we are trying to do and enhance especially with the upcoming elections – and that is to build a democratic and stable society”, he said.

The President also expressed alarm at the frequency of deadly criminal incidents on the East Bank Demerara in recent times. “…there seems to be a battle to convert the East Bank, especially Agricola, into another Buxton and we are committed in our efforts to ensure this does not happen,” he said.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed forces also indicated that he summoned an emergency Defence Board meeting Wednesday when he was assured by the security forces that there will be “an enhanced presence” of the Army and Police on the East Bank corridor.

“We would deny these criminals any opportunity to turn those peace loving villages into another safe haven (for criminals),” the President posited.

He also reiterated that crime and the battle against criminals should be dealt with in “a non-partisan” way by all and sundry, since that was why the National Commission on Law and Order was established in the first place.

President Jagdeo also stressed that there should be “no preconditions” to fighting criminals and the crime scourge in Guyana.

Asked whether he considered declaring a state of emergency after the Tuesday night massacre, he pointed out that even in the worst of times he was advised against declaring a state of emergency since this normally tends to affect ordinary citizens more than the criminals.

“You have to look at the effectiveness of the tool and I have been advised over and over (against declaring a state of emergency) – it sounds nice but it is not an effective tool against a gang of criminals who seem to be hiding out in some communities and sometimes in the back lands,” the President reasoned. (Mark Ramotar/Guyana Cronicle)

Prisons on alert

Being constantly on the alert is the watchword of the administration of the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), especially during this elections period, as it remains cognizant of possible threats to the security of the institution, both internal and externally.

That was the assurance yesterday from Director of Prisons, Mr. Dale Erskine who said security has been heightened at all the country’s penal institutions which are currently operating at maximum strength.

A number other measures have also been devised to which the prisons can respond and the administration is involved in regular reviews of its operations in order to enhance its custodial capability, he said.

Erskine reminded that the GPS remains closely aligned to its sister disciplined services, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), on which it relies for ready assistance in the event of an emergency situation.

Asked whether there was the likelihood that Tuesday’s unrest in the capital and condemned blocks of the Camp Street prison where inmates housed in that section protested conditions in the institution, was synchronized with a skirmish between the Police and bandits and the mayhem in Bagotstown and Eccles, Erskine said he did not think so.

Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene, at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, said protesting inmates rocked and kicked out the expanding metal from the capital block, banged on doors, threw mattresses out the cells and even threatened to burn down the prison.

Erskine, who said the unrest by the inmates was as a result of legitimate concerns, was himself in the Camp Street compound helping to quell the situation from becoming more explosive.

Acknowledging that the Camp Street jail had encountered difficulties obtaining water for several hours Tuesday, he said the Fire Service assisted with some water during the afternoon, but with the prison population that was not enough.

In addition, with no water pressure available, inmates housed in upper stories, like the capital and condemned dormitories, couldn’t access water to bathe or complete lavatory chores. In addition to the water problem, some of the inmates in the dorm used the opportunity to highlight other issues, Erskine said.

The situation was brought under control with the help of the police who took further precautions by erecting barricades around the prison. Through Wednesday, repair and reinforced works were carried out on the damaged dormitory, officials said. (Wendella Davidson)

Acting Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene yesterday said the force is not ruling out a possible link between the ruckus created at the Camp Street Prison on Tuesday night and the killings later on the East Bank saying that the former could have been a tactic to divert police attention.

And the joint services have arrested 20 suspects following an attack by Buxton gunmen on Brushe Dam on Tuesday evening.

A number of remand inmates protesting living conditions at the prison on Tuesday evening threatened to burn down the jail, while kicking out windows and rocking the doors. "The ruckus that started at 7 pm at the jail heightened at 9 pm during the same time when the gunmen launched their attack on the East Bank of Demerara,"

Commissioner Greene told a press conference. He said the protesting inmates threatened to burn down the prison, rocked the doors, kicked out window panes and tossed mattresses from the cells. Asked whether the police are investigating to see if persons outside influenced the prisoners, Greene said yes, but did not go into details.

He could not say yesterday afternoon whether they had interviewed the inmates to ascertain if their protest was coordinated with the East Bank massacre. Greene said that they would check every lead to determine the motives behind both incidents. He told the media however that while they have no evidence to prove that there was a link in the series of events, the force is not ruling it out.

Around 15 gunmen armed with high-powered weapons as well as cutlasses and machetes launched a savage attack on residents of Bagotstown and pressmen at the Kaieteur News printery, located at Eccles Industrial Site. Four press workers were executed, while a fifth is in a critical condition at the Georgetown Hospital. A security guard for the printing press was also wounded in the attack and he, too, is nursing injuries at the hospital.

Director of Prisons, Dale Erskine yesterday said that the situation at the Camp Street penitentiary is back to normal one day after the protest. President Bharrat Jagdeo during a visit to the crime scene at Eccles on Tuesday told reporters that the authorities would have to find out whether there was any link between the two incidents.

Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday Erskine said that the protest was as a result of a water shortage at the men's cells. Stabroek News was told that the prisoners who erupted were being held in the capital offences and condemned prisoners' cells. Erskine said that the water problem had existed for the entire day Tuesday.

He said some of the inmates had complained that they were not able to bathe or flush the toilets among others things and this made them very uncomfortable. Nothing was done to remedy the situation during the day and around 7 pm on Tuesday the inmates began protesting by making noise, Erskine said. He said prison officers stepped in and brought the situation under control, but this was short-lived as the gunmen erupted again around 9 pm.

This time they kicked down louvre windows, broke down a door and threw several mattresses outside. Stabroek News was told that the tossing of the mattresses outside was to facilitate the men's escape. Apart from the water problem, Erskine said that the inmates had raised some other issues.

He said once the situation got out of control on Tuesday they summoned back-up from the police and the ruckus was quickly quelled. Erskine could not say whether the eruption at the prison and the attacks on the East Bank were coordinated. He said so far they have no information to suggest any link, noting that the ruckus at the prison was based on an issue.

Erskine assured this newspaper that by yesterday afternoon, they had completed repairing the broken down windows and door and had fixed the water system. Erskine said that in reaction to the protest, security at the prison was beefed up. He said that the police have been assisting with security. He added that no one was injured during the chaos. Erskine said that they regretted the situation, which may have caused undue alarm to the public.

In 2002 five dangerous prisoners escaped from that said jail, ushering in a crime wave which the police have been unable to quell. Meanwhile, Greene said yesterday that an attack on a joint services patrol at Buxton on Tuesday evening occurred almost simultaneously with the prisoners' first protest.

He said that ranks on a patrol on Brushe Dam came under fire from gunmen under a house. The joint services ranks took evasive action and returned fire. However, the gunmen managed to escape, Greene said. He said that an operation was launched immediately and 17 males and three females were arrested. (Stabroek News)

Police Commissioner Henry Greene, fourth from left, and other top officers at the news conference yesterday. (Quacy Sampson photo)

The police through ballistic and intelligence records have made a link between the persons who Sunday night shot dead Kaneville businessman, Barbot Paul, the execution-style murder of four Kaieteur News printery employees and those involved in the killing of Bagotstown businessman, Wordsworth Grey Tuesday night.

Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, at a news conference yesterday to update the media on the Tuesday night executions, said that following the tests and a perusal of police records, “it was clear therefore that Barbot Paul’s gun was used at the scene.”

According to him, the tests were carried out on 35 – 7.62 x 39 spent shells retrieved from the Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown killing scene, and nine matched shells collected at the Kaneville scene indicating they were fired from the same gun. Also, a .32 shell retrieved from Kaneville, along with 11 similar rounds have matched what the Police had in records in relation to the .32 gun which was stolen from Paul the night he was murdered.

The Top Cop who said the armed group by its action “intended to cause terror and disquiet among citizens”, gave the media a detailed sequence of the gunmen’s movements as reported to police by eyewitnesses, starting from about 21:45 h Tuesday.

He said the armed men numbering about 15 and who were observed proceeding along the Eccles Public Road, first attacked a Car Care car depot located on a plot of land bordering Eccles and Bagotstown, where they indiscriminately fired shots, forcing a watchman to seek cover, and damaging two vehicles in the process.

From there, the group by way of an adjacent roadway leading east into the industrial area, entered Nandy Park to the south and made their way into Norton Street, Bagotstown where Noel Ifill, a resident was chopped in the head by one of three men who had a cutlass. Greene said that making their way again to the public road, the gunmen who were firing shots indiscriminately, targeted Grey who was shot several times in the arms, legs and chest.

A taxi driver proceeding south was hit by a bullet in the left side and the windscreen of his car shattered. The driver, however, was able to drive to the Providence Police Station from where he was taken to the West Demerara Regional Hospital and is a patient. An innocent bystander who was in the vicinity was also shot and has been admitted at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Using Norton Street and Nandy Park the gunmen again made their way into the Eccles Industrial road, where two persons in a vehicle who apparently having lost their way ended up in a cul-de-sac, incurred the wrath of the gunmen when the headlights of their vehicle shone on them. The gunmen opened fire on the vehicle, shattering the windscreen as well as the glass on the left front door.

The Commissioner said the two persons were forced to abandon their vehicle and seek assistance from residents. By them, the gunmen who had reached the industrial site entrance attacked the security guard on duty and tied him up.

Four of them then proceeded into the Kaieteur News compound, where a security guard who alerted about six workers of the gunmen’s presence was shot in the head. Five of the six workers who emerged from their hiding places on the orders of the gunmen were placed to lie down and shot execution style at the back of the head. One, who was also shot, has survived. The sixth worker survived because he remained in hiding.

Meanwhile, Greene said, the owner of a business place in the area, a licensed firearm holder, and two others who were liming also came under attack.The businessman who reportedly retaliated and his friends were forced to scale a fence to escape the rampaging gunmen. One of them was, however, shot and has been hospitalized.

The Commissioner confirmed that prior to the Bagotstown and Kaieteur News attacks, a Joint Services team had come under attack while on patrol on Brusche Dam, Buxton, East Coast Demerara and almost simultaneously, there were reports of an unrest in the Georgetown Prisons, to which the Police were summoned.

That incident at the prisons saw inmates housed in the capital and condemned sections in an alleged protest against conditions, wrenching out iron bars from their dormitory and throwing out mattresses. The situation was brought under control before there were any serious consequences.

Yesterday, prison officials reported that everything was under control and that repairs were being done to further secure the dormitory. And, though the timings of all the incidents of Tuesday night were close, Greene said it had not yet been determined whether there was an arranged link to cause distraction. The Top Cop pointed out, however, that the murder of the Kaneville businessman reflected the style of the particular group.

Security presence has been beefed up on the East Bank in the wake of the attacks, which are reminiscent of the massacre earlier this year at the Two Brothers Gas Station, Eccles and in Agricola, leaving eight persons dead.

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Force, President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday chaired an emergency meeting of the Defence Board in the wake of the Tuesday night massacre by the armed gang. (Guyana Cronicle/Wendella Davidson)

Families of slain five recall horrors

This newspaper was informed that Mohamed, who was shot in the head, was currently recuperating in the High Dependency Unit. By midday yesterday he was responding to family members.

Family members of the late Chetram Persaud at his home yesterday. From left are his wife Malwantie Persaud, younger son Dhenesh, mother Doris and sister Galo.

Employees at the printery said that they heard one of the gunmen shout, “If is trouble they want, they will get f…..g trouble!” as they swept into the building and ordered the printing staff to lie face down on the floor. They then shot five of the employees in the back of the head, killing four on the spot.

Malwantie Persaud, 45, yesterday said that her husband Chetram, called ‘Boyo’, left their Eccles home for work around 21:40 h, some 20 minutes before the attack. She said that since his workplace was a short distance away, he left on his bicycle.

According to a distraught Persaud, she was lying in the hammock on her veranda when she heard rapid gunfire coming from the direction of her husband’s workplace. She said word quickly spread that the printery was indeed under attack and when the gunfire subsided, they went to the place only to discover her husband among the dead. There was a bullet hole to the side of his head.

The couple had been married for the past 23 years and had two children, Dwijesh, 22, and Dhanesh, 20. He also leaves to mourn his mother, five sisters and two brothers.

In December of 2002, Persaud was robbed and beaten and his motorcycle torched when arsonists invaded the printery. Two armed men entered the building and ordered the four press men at gunpoint to lie face down on the floor. They beat and robbed the workers before drenching the place in a flammable substance.

They then hurled bombs into the building and it was badly damaged causing millions of dollars in losses. No one died in that attack. Among those left to mourn the death of 22-year-old Mark Mikoo, is his 18-year-old reputed wife Tarwattie Rajbans and their four-month old baby Annalisa Mikoo.

Mikoo lived at Lot 5 Company Park, Yarrow Dam, La Penitence, and had been working at the Eccles Printery for the past six months. Rajbans said her husband left their home around 21:10 h. She said she received the devastating news around 22:30 h from her father. “He just told me that Mark was shot by bandits,” she recalled. The young woman said her husband was always a quiet person who never had problems with anyone.

Forty-seven-year-old Eion Wegman was also shot dead when the gunmen invaded the Eccles printery. His wife, Nadine Wegman, yesterday told this newspaper that her husband left for work around 20:15 h. She said she got the message that he died, which her son left on the answering machine, some time after midnight. She said that when she saw his body at the mortuary, his face was swollen and he had a gunshot wound to the right temple.

Collette Daniels, 31, and her reputed husband Wordsworth Grey, 31, were relaxing in the shop which they operate at their Lot 31 Norton Street, Bagotstown, when gunshots rang out.

Yesterday, the woman said that by the time they left the shop and tried to enter their home, they were confronted by five heavily-armed bandits. She said she quickly sprinted into the house, pursued by one of the men, while the other four chased her husband.

According to Daniels, once inside, she took her children and went into the bedroom where they remained hidden under the bed. Simultaneously, rapid gunfire was coming from outside. “All I keep hearing is ‘Bam! Bam! Bam!”, she related. Shortly after, one of the gunmen was heard saying “he a’int dead yet” as they continued to pursue him through the yard.

She said that when the gunfire ceased some half an hour later and she ventured outside, her husband was lying dead in the drain at the side of the house. The man was the father of a one year, nine-month old daughter.

Owner and publisher of the Kaieteur News Mr. Glenn Lall said the attack was a devastating blow to the media itself, but more importantly to Kaieteur News. “We are kind of down at the moment but not out,” he told this newspaper.

He added that Tuesday night’s attack was a deliberate one aimed at his newspaper and it was well orchestrated and executed. He said the families of the dead men will be compensated and the workplace will take care of all funeral expenses. (Shawnel Cudjoe/Guyana Cronicle)

Eight died, including four Kaieteur News press employees as gunmen opened fire simultaneously in Buxton, East Bank Demerara, Bagotstown and the Kaieteur News press room aback Eccles last night.

One of the Kaieteur News survivors, Haimchand Harripersaud said the guard at the gate to the printery shouted “Gunmen coming” and the workers rushed to the back of the press room as 10 gunmen descended on the Eccles operation.

The gunmen shot the guard, Julius Degrace and forced their way into the building where they confronted two of the workers.

They demanded that the others come out from hiding and of the three, two came from the lavatory. Another was pulled from the locker. The guard survived and is in hospital.

The gunmen placed them face down on the floor. The survivor said that from his hiding place he heard someone said, “Kill them.” Gunshots rang out. He said that from his hiding place he could see nothing. When it was over he saw five of his colleagues face down. They had all been shot in the head execution style.

Dead are Mark Maikoo, Chitram ‘Boyo' Persaud, Eon Wigman and Richard Stuart. Shazim Mohamed was critical in the Intensive Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital having been shot in the head. He too had been placed on the ground and shot.

The sight of the four dead men at the scene greeted the police and staffers when they raced to the Eccles printery. They found the men dead, face down on the concrete floor and their hands stretched out.

The gunfire had earlier broken out at Bagotstown shortly before 22:00hrs. People spoke of hearing rapid gunfire and immediately took evasive action in their homes. Some went under beds while others attempted to get a glimpse of the location from where the gunfire emanated.

One man was reportedly killed and two others were said to be injured. Guards in the area spoke of a white car driving from Nandy Park and entering the newly constructed community of Eccles where the gunmen encountered a man driving a sports utility vehicle and opened fire. The driver was reportedly killed.

Another driver had his vehicle riddled. People spoke of seeing him trying to manoeuvre his vehicle after the back wheel had been shot out. The gunmen who shot and killed the men at the Kaieteur News Printery were said to be different from those who attacked Eccles and Bagotstown. These were said to have entered the Industrial Site from the cane fields.

But people reported seeing two groups of gunmen running along the road leading to the Industrial Site and shooting in the air. One group was said to comprise six men while the other had four. The guards at the entrance leading to the Industrial Site said that no one passed them. One of them said that perhaps that was a blessing in disguise because they might have been killed too.

As the police raced to the East Bank Demerara, word came that there was a confrontation between the Joint Services and gunmen in Buxton. There were no casualties there but there were reports of numerous arrests. Reports out of the Camp Street jail stated that someone created panic and forced the police to surround the facility. Initial reports of a break out turned out to be false. (See supporting story)

Glenn Lall of Kaieteur News was grief stricken. His wife, Bhena, said that one of the now dead workers had called her a mere five minutes before the shooting to say that he did not feel like working any longer. Then came the gunshots out of Bagotstown. She said that she immediately called the workers and they told her that they were alright. All that changed a few minutes later.

Meanwhile, the staff at the Saffon Street head office was completing the paper when the news came. And as if in tribute to the slain workers, he ordered the staff to make every arrangement to print the paper.

With tears in his eyes, he said that he was going to do what should have been done all along - print the paper. The news spread quickly. Relatives of Boyo Persaud raced to the printery and confirmed their worst fears. (Kaieteur News)

Late flash:

Gunmen execute six

In attack on Kaieteur News printery, two villages

President Bharrat Jagdeo with Mrs. Bhena Lall, wife of Kaieteur news owner Mr. Glen Lall, at the Printery this morning.

The gang stormed into the newspaper printery at about 22:00 h after a rampage at Bagotstown and Agricola where one person was shot dead and about three others wounded, witnesses said.

Employees at the Kaieteur News printery said they heard one of the gunmen shout “If is trouble they want, they will get f…..g trouble!” as they swept into the building where they ordered printing staff to lie face down on the floor.

They then shot five of the employees in the head, killing four on the spot and the other died on the way to hospital, witnesses said.

Employees said among those killed at the newspaper printery were Chetram Persaud (also called Bayo); Mark Mikoo; Shazim and Richard.

Sources said the slaughter came after a skirmish between gunmen and a Police/Army patrol at Brusche Dam, Buxton, East Coast Demerara. President Bharrat Jagdeo visited the newspaper printery at about 01:30 h today. (Guyana Cronicle)

Ranks from the Joint Services came under fire last night in the Buxton/Friendship area, sparking fears that the village is still a haven for gunmen. Kaieteur News understands that no one was injured, but several persons were arrested including two men who police say are suspects in the shooting at the ranks.

Police Divisional Commander, Leroy Brummell, told Kaieteur News that ranks from the Joint Services were on patrol near Brusche Dam at around 19:00 hours when they came under fire. He said that the ranks took cover by jumping into trenches and returned fire. Brummell said that two men were arrested immediately after the exchange.

However in the aftermath of the shooting members of the Joint Services swooped down on houses in the area and arrested several men and woman. Some of the women, including a nurse, are being held at the Beterverwagting Police Station while more than a dozen men are in custody at Cove and John.

Residents said that the ranks dragged several persons from under their beds where they had taken cover when the shooting erupted. One woman said that her relative was arrested by ranks who claimed that she knew who the gunmen were.

The Joint Service has established a camp in Buxton with the aim of sanitising the area of criminal elements who were wreaking havoc on East Coast Demerara. Last evening's skirmish renewed fears that the gunmen who were scattered from their camp aback of Belfield, further up the coast have returned to Buxton. (Kaieteur News)

Armed with high powered rifles, police last night moved in on the Camp Street Prison in Georgetown , to help prison officials restore order after inmates became agitated over the lack of water in the facility.

According to a source the prison has been with out water for all of yesterday. Last evening at about 19:00hrs several prisoners started protesting to bring attention to their plight. The source indicated that some of the inmates kicked out windows and attempted to break-through iron grills during the protest.

Armed ranks cordoned off the perimeter of the prison, while senior police officers were seen entering the facility, including the Acting Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene, and “A” Division Commander Paul Slowe.

In a brief comment out side the prison walls, Greene said that the situation was under control but lamented that the inmates continue to make noise. Up to press time last night, police were maintaining their presence in and around the facility. (Kaieteur News)

The police and the army are working towards establishing whether the grenade that was lobbed at their men during a confrontation with gunmen at the back of Victoria is one that was stolen from a depot in Suriname and authorities in the neighbouring country will be asked to assist.

Deportee, Leydon Elvis George Deane, had lobbed the grenade at the lawmen on Sunday night shortly after the Joint Services and the gunmen engaged in a shoot-out at the back of Victoria, East Coast Demerara. Deane, who was deported from French Guiana, died in a hail of bullets.

Joint Services sources last evening told Stabroek News that the lawmen would be using the shrapnel that was found in army Sergeant Dexter Bond's shoulder to conduct forensic tests to ascertain the type of grenade and if it was one that could have been sent across the border from Suriname. They would also be seeking the help of their Surinamese counterparts.

Earlier this year the Surinamese authorities had announced that a large number of grenades were stolen from an army depot and they had suspected that some might have been brought to Guyana as there is believed to be a vibrant small arms trade over the Corentyne River. It was the announcement of the grenades theft that had prompted the Guyana Defence Force to conduct a detailed search of all its arms bonds and which led to the discovery that 30 AK-47s were missing.

Sources pointed out that if it does turn out that the grenade is from Suriname then it would confirm that the gunmen operating in the backlands of the East Coast have links far and wide. Last Sunday's shoot-out came after the gunmen had moved from the back of Belfield to Victoria. The lawmen had been tipped off and followed them.

When cornered, the gunmen opened fire on them. After the gunfire subsided Deane was seen lying on the ground and the lawmen advanced towards him as they thought he was dead. It was at this point, according to sources, the man lobbed his grenade in their direction, blowing away his arm at the same time. The lawmen then opened fire on him again, riddling him with bullets.

Meanwhile, the Joint Services continue to sweep the backlands for the gunmen who disappeared after last week's battle. There have been no other sightings of the men nor have the ranks found any arms and ammunition since.

Stabroek News was told last evening that the Joint Services would not give up until the men are captured. The lawmen are also sweeping the backlands to find weapons that they suspect are buried there and are using metal detectors to assist them in this exercise. Several months ago, the army and the police set up a camp at the back of Buxton, which for years has been a haven for gunmen, but last weekend's shoot-out was their first major encounter with the gunmen.

Police had said that Deane, also known as Sheldon Solomon was deported from Cayenne on December 13, 2005 after serving 12 months of a two-year prison sentence for possession of firearms.

Deane was found with a pistol which was stolen from policeman Sundat Ramoutar. Ramoutar and Suresh Persaud were abducted by gunmen in Buxton last year October and shot dead. Ballistics tests also revealed that the gun was used during the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Kevin Brown at his Back Street, McDoom home on March 18 this year

Further, the Joint Services had said that a ballistics examination of the unlicensed 9 mm Taurus pistol revealed that the weapon was used during the armed attack on the Two Brothers Gas Station at McDoom, EBD, on February 26 this year. In that incident, three MMC security guards: Cedric Dummet, Sheldon Smartt and Loris Semple were shot and killed.

Ballistics examinations were also done on spent shells and cartridges recovered at the scene in the Victoria backlands and they revealed that three 7.62 spent shells were fired from one of the weapons used during the East Bank killings and also during the slaying of Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh and his relatives.

Police had already linked the killing of the minister to the Buxton gang and two weeks ago published wanted bulletins for six men, including notorious fugitive, Troy Dick and Rondel 'Fineman' Rawlins. Police also announced a $2M reward for information leading to the arrest of each suspect, but apart from a few calls there has been no significant development in the case.

Aside from Sergeant Bond two other soldiers: Private Esseie Boyce and Linden Gill were also injured during the attack. Boyce sprained his ankle when he fell into a hole, while Gill was grazed on his left shoulder by a bullet.

Policeman Kwesi Lawrence of Craig Public Road, East Bank Demerara lost his life when a member of the joint services accidentally shot him while clearing his weapon.

During last week's operation, the Joint Services had said that they destroyed two camps at the back of Belfield which were stocked with foodstuff. They also seized 64 rounds of ammunition for the G3 rifle, two M70 magazines, one G3 magazine, five hand-held radios, camouflage clothing, one cell phone and a compass. (Stabroek News)

A WOMAN, who said she once lived in the house at 102 Grove Public Road, East Bank Demerara, where the decomposed bodies of four persons, including two children, were discovered Wednesday, claims a man who also stayed there had issued death threats.

Her claims surfaced at the cremation yesterday afternoon of Danmattie Kayman, 43, and her children, Alicia Kirkpatrick, 7, and Melville Jr., 3 at the Good Hope Crematorium, East Coast Demerara.

They were cremated amid loud wailing from family members and friends still deeply shocked at the bizarre murders.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, cried openly at the crematorium. She showed up at the home of Kayman’s sister in Grove Friday night after she heard of the murders.

She said she was forced to move out of the Grove home which she shared with Fred Looknauth, 69, (who was also killed in the attack), Kayman and her two children, another woman police want to question, and her lover.

She told the Sunday Chronicle she is fearful for her life because the man has a handgun and had threatened to kill Kayman recently because he claimed she was telling people that he is a thief and a gunman.

The woman said she recently received a message that the man wanted to see her and had asked that she drop by the Grove house but she said she did not go.

According to the woman, the man is a deportee from Cayenne and his lover, who also stayed at the house where the murders were committed, was well-known.

She said they were all friends and used to drink alcohol together in the house. She, in addition, claimed that the other woman police are seeking was also intimate with Looknauth.

She said Looknauth used to receive a monthly allowance from his son who resides overseas and had taken Kayman and her children to live with him after she was evicted from her home in Kaneville, also on the East Bank Demerara.

Kayman, she said, had a substantial sum of money she was saving for a planned trip to seek employment in Puerto Rico. Relatives said the bag in which Kayman usually kept her important documents and money was not found in the house. Looknauth was buried yesterday at the Kaneville cemetery.

Kayman was found in the bedroom naked with a sheet covering her face; the caretaker, Looknauth, was discovered in the passageway leading to the bathroom in the upper flat of the building, and the bodies of Kayman’s children were found in the incomplete bottom flat of the house.

Seven-year-old Alicia Kirkpatrick was also found naked and her legs were broken, and little Melville was lying next to her, relatives said. A post mortem report Friday revealed that Kayman died of strangulation while her children and Looknauth died of cerebral (brain) haemorrhage and appeared to have been beaten in the head. (Michel Outridge/Guyana Cronicle)

THE U.S. Eastern District Court on Tillary Street in downtown Brooklyn where Roger Khan appeared yesterday. (Photo by Shanie Persaud)

Justice Dora Lizzette Irririzary, presiding at the U.S. Eastern District Court on Tillary Street in downtown Brooklyn, before whom the 36-year-old Khan appeared for just about 10 minutes, adjourned the case for 45 days, saying that Khan’s matter is a complex one.

Both the prosecutors and Khan’s U.S. attorneys Robert Simmels and John Bergendahl agreed. The two have now been joined by Trinidad attorney Odai Ramishchand to defend the Guyanese businessman.

According to the `Guyana Times’ in New York City, Judge Irririzary stated that Khan’s case was out of the norm for most criminal cases and those differences were basically occasioned by the way he was taken to the U.S.

Simmels, in noting that the U.S. did kidnap Khan from Trinidad, said his client was not allowed due process in the twin-island republic. In addition, he said, the U.S. did not follow Trinidad’s law, arguing that the U.S. needed to file a request to Trinidad or any country in any such cases. Instead, his client was brought there illegally, he said.

As a consequence, Ramishchand will file legal documents in a Trinidad court to show that Khan was not given due process there and that he was taken to the U.S. illegally. Khan also signed a power of attorney granting Ramishchand permission access to information that will help his case.

Simmels said he is hoping that everyone will agree that Khan was taken to the U.S. illegally. Also, it will be helpful for an American court to have a decision handed down by the Trinidad court that will prove that the action by the U.S. towards Khan was a violation of law.

Pointing out that that could help Khan’s case significantly, he reminded that it was only on June 29 that a U.S. supreme court ruled that the cases of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners were illegal, noting too, that the law requires that each person must be given due process before charged or tried.

Simmels also told the court that Khan is a citizen of Guyana. Remarking that he is not a citizen of the U.S. or even a green card holder, the attorney added that if he (Khan) was arrested in the U.S. then his case would not be as complex as it is now.

Bergandahl said his client has every intention of challenging the U.S. and to the very end.

The controversial businessman was arrested in Paramaribo, Suriname, on June 15 last along with 11 others, including three other Guyanese - Paul Rodrigues, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Robert – said to be his bodyguards during a huge drug bust which Police in the former Dutch colony said netted 213 kilos of cocaine.

He was expelled from that country to Trinidad and Tobago on June 29 where he subsequently was handed over to U.S. law enforcement officials. He was then flown to the U.S. to face the drug charge in what his lawyers called a kidnapping.

Khan had also appeared in a Paramaribo Magistrate's court charged with being part of a criminal organisation, possession and trafficking of narcotics and possession of firearms. The charges were, however, withdrawn to facilitate Khan's deportation from Suriname and subsequent apprehension by the U.S.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents (DEA) arrested Khan in Trinidad on the basis of an international arrest on an indictment by a New York Grand Jury in May this year for conspiracy to import cocaine.

The warrant which carried the Case Number 06CR 255 “commanded” the United States Marshall and/or any authorized United States Officer, “to arrest Shaheed Khan, also known as `Roger Khan' and `Short Man’ and bring him forthwith to the nearest magistrate to answer an indictment charging him with conspiring to import cocaine into the United States.”

The warrant signed by Justice Roanne Mann on April 13, 2006, stated that the alleged offence was in violation of Title 21, U.S. Case section 963.

Khan was arraigned at the Brooklyn Federal Court in New York on June 29, before Justice Mann, less than 24 hours after he was spirited off to that country from Trinidad. The judge ordered that he be detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Brooklyn and reassigned the case to Judge Irririzary.

Yesterday, Khan was supported by several family members including his wife, children, his mother Gloria Kissoon, uncles and aunts.

His mother, who appeared to be tired and stressed, spoke about the support from the Guyanese community and said she was very pleased with the Guyana government, especially former President Janet Jagan, who, when she spoke did so on behalf of Guyanese as a whole. Kissoon said President Bharrat Jagdeo did the same.

The `Guyana Times’ said Khan’s mother was also very appreciative of the letters of support that appear in the papers and said his family will all continue to pray for her son. She noted, too, that the last time her son appeared in court he was tired and was affected because of the way he was taken to the U.S.

She remarked that her son had been chased from Guyana, then to be kidnapped in Trinidad and that he was not given anything while in Suriname or Trinidad. She said that in the U.S. he benefits more, is allowed telephone calls, is given a pen or paper whenever he requests.

According to her, the way he is treated in the U.S. is a reflection of how he looked, relaxed, when he appeared in court yesterday. Meanwhile, up to yesterday, Khan’s Guyanese cohorts and the Surinamese who were held with him in the former Dutch colony, were still incarcerated and have not yet been charged for any offence.

The Surinamese authorities have twice gotten legal approval to further extend the incarceration of the Guyanese. The Suriname de Ware Tijd newspaper reported late last month that the investigation might be expanded to other persons on the basis of information received from abroad.

It quoted Prosecutor General Subhas Punwasi as saying the 11 persons will remain in custody, as "there are no grounds for releasing these suspects, the investigation will continue and they will appear before the judge, it's that simple… it is a 'big case', which must be uncovered. . . so it might take a while before the suspects are brought to court."

The investigators are now trying to uncover who else was involved in Khan's alleged criminal activities, the newspaper added. (Guyana Cronicle)

The US government was yesterday granted 45 more days to prepare its case against Guyanese businessman, Roger Khan who is currently facing a charge of conspiracy to import cocaine into the US. Khan appeared yesterday in a Brooklyn Court before US Judge Dora Irizarry dressed in a bright orange prisoner jumpsuit.

As he entered, his relatives waved to him and he acknowledged them with a nod of his head and a wave. According to reports out of New York, US Prosecutor, assistant attorney-at-law, Paige Petersen told the court yesterday that the indictment against Khan was a complex one. She mentioned that there are already motions filed in a New York court for the state to withdraw the indictment among other things.

She said in such circumstances the state was asking for 45 days more to prepare its case. Attorney-at-law, John Bergendahl one of the lawyers appearing for Khan agreed with Petersen, saying that he had filed a motion asking for the indictment to be dismissed.

Also in court yesterday was Khan's Trinidadian lawyer, Odai Ramischand. He was allowed to sit with the attorneys. Bergendahl pointed out in court that Ramischand was currently preparing a motion in Trinidad and Tobago challenging the US arrest of Khan in the Twin-Island Republic in late June.

Khan, who had evaded Guyana's police after a wanted bulletin was published for him, was arrested in Suriname on June 15 along with three of his bodyguards and nine Surinamese nationals during a huge drug bust. He was deported from the country on June 29 after Surinamese authorities suddenly withdrew all the charges they had against him.

However controversy swirled on that day as Khan was put on a Suriname Airways flight from Para-maribo and sent to Trinidad and Tobago where he was detained by US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials on a provisional arrest warrant which had been issued by a New York judge. He was then flown to Miami and then to New York.

Since then Ramischand along with Khan's Guyanese lawyers have condemned the US apprehension of the businessman, saying that it was not deportation or extradition but abduction. However, the then US Ambassador to Guyana, Roland Bullen had clarified this, telling this newspaper in an interview that Khan was arrested by DEA officials on a provisional arrest warrant. He denied that the businessman was abducted.

Ramischand, according to sources, went to the US to obtain a notarized signature from Khan which would allow him to file a motion in Trinidad challenging what he called the snatching of the Guyanese by the US. Stabroek News was told that some 20 supporters, many being close relatives of Khan were on hand yesterday in court. A vibrant prayer session outside of the court, led by the businessman's aunt, preceded the hearing.

Relatives prayed for justice and sang hymns. Outfitted in his orange jumpsuit, Khan was heavily bearded, according to reports. Bergendahl said that his client was upbeat and would lead a vigorous defence. Asked whether they will consider a plea bargain arrangement, Bergendahl said it was too early to decide on that, asserting that Khan would fight his case vigorously. As usual there was tight security at the court.

Guyanese as well as New York journalists were present at the hearing. Khan had made his first court appearance in New York on June 30 at which time he pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to import cocaine into the US between January 2001 and March 2006. The matter was put down for yesterday at which time it was expected that the court would have worked out the trial details. Observers say it is possible that at the end of 45 days the prosecution would still not be ready to proceed with the trial.

Bergendahl in a seven-page motion had approached a New York court asking that the indictment against Khan be dismissed. A New York Grand Jury indicted Khan in May this year. In his motion Bergendahl said that the cryptic form of the indictment puts Khan in the position of going to trial blind as details of the conspiracy are undefined. He said there is a risk that he could then be convicted on the basis of facts not even presented to the grand jury which indicted him.

Khan, Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues and nine Surinamese were held in two separate raids in Paramaribo in June. Some 213 kilos of cocaine was found along with two firearms. Surinamese police had initially charged Khan for allegedly being part of a criminal organisation, possession and trafficking of narcotics and possession of a firearm.

Khan was however released, but his Guyanese bodyguards are still locked up in Suriname jails. Recently authorities in the former Dutch colony extended their jail time, while declaring that they have received new information from persons overseas. Khan the owner of several business entities in Guyana had said in one of his several media statements that his indictment was motivated by political considerations.

He admitted that he helped fight crime during the escapee-led violence in 2002-3, employing a network of ex-convicts and former policemen. He also circulated tapes of conversations with Police Commissioner Winston Felix in an apparent attempt to discredit the Top Cop and to stave off his handing over to the American authorities. Washington has since signalled that indictments against other Guyanese could be unsealed soon. (Stabroek News)

GROVE FOUR WERE MURDERED

Children, man died of brain haemorrhage, woman strangled

POST mortems have found that the four persons, including two children, whose decomposing bodies were found in a house at Grove, East Bank Demerara Wednesday were murdered, and would likely lead to an intense Police hunt for a woman who neighbours said always claimed to “look after” the man and the two children.

Post mortem results showed that Fred Looknauth, 66, died from cerebral (brain) haemorrhage while Danmattie Kayman, 43, died of strangulation. The two children Alicia Makieda Kirkpatrick, who would have celebrated her seventh birthday Monday, and Melville Kayman, 3, both died from cerebral haemorrhage due to wounds they sustained to their heads.

The news yesterday sunk the families into further despair and they remain baffled as to who would have committed the murders. All of them would be laid to rest today.

Elaine Ramrattan said her father would be buried at the Samantha Point burial ground, but they would be unable to accord him full final rites because of the decomposed state of his body. She said they would not be able to even dress him.

Danmattie and her two children would be cremated at the Good Hope foreshore, East Coast Demerara.

Damnattie’s mother, Rita Ramlagan, who yesterday said she had run out of tears to cry, recalled that when she called for her daughter from outside the house at lot 102 Grove Public road Sunday, a woman came up and said Danmattie had gone out with her daughter.

Ramlagan said the baby was still alive at that time, as she could hear him crying inside. She said, as was her custom, she did not enter the house.

She said she could not see the woman’s face, as she came up from behind her. She said the woman appeared to have been carrying a bottle of drinks, a pack of cigarettes and a pack of biscuits.

Relatives believe the woman could provide the vital link to solving the bizarre case that has sparked countrywide interest. Neighbours said she would frequent the house and used to tell them that she takes care of theman and the two children.

Danmattie was scheduled to visit her mother Saturday evening but failed to show. Neighbours believe that whoever committed the murders might have done so Saturday evening/Sunday morning when there was a heavy downpour accompanied by heavy lightning and thunderstorms.

However, relatives of Looknauth yesterday revealed that his grandson last saw him alive Sunday afternoon. One of his grandsons said he saw him lying in the hammock on the veranda.

Meanwhile, Looknauth’s relatives expressed outrage that his body was not properly taken care of. They said the bodies were taken over by Police Wednesday, but when they showed up at Le Repentir mortuary Thursday morning, three bodies, including Looknauth’s were under a tree, untreated.

The relatives said it was only then that they were told that they needed to buy ice and salt, and they handed over $4,000 to do so. They expressed surprise at the way the mortuary is managed.

They said Looknauth’s body was allowed to go into a further decomposed state and as a result, they cannot even dress him for his burial today.

Looknauth had agreed to take the woman and children into the house he was being paid to take care of as they had nowhere to go when she was evicted out of her house in a family dispute from her first marriage. (Neil Marks/Guyana Cronicle)

Khan is due before U.S. District Judge Dora Lizzette Irizarry and according to reports, the preparedness of both prosecution and defence for a speedy commencement of a trial, will be made known. Khan is being represented by Miami-based attorney-at-law John Bergendahl and others.

The controversial businessman who was arrested in Paramaribo, Suriname, on June 15 last during a huge drug bust which Police in the former Dutch colony said netted 213 kilos of cocaine, was expelled from that country to Trinidad and Tobago on June 29 where he subsequently was handed over to U.S. law enforcement officials. He was then flown to the U.S. to face the drug charge in what his lawyers called a kidnapping.

Khan had also appeared in a Paramaribo Magistrate's court charged for being part of a criminal organisation, possession and trafficking of narcotics and possession of firearms. The charges were, however, withdrawn to facilitate Khan's deportation from Suriname and subsequent apprehension by the U.S. U.S. Drug Enforcement Agents (DEA) arrested Khan in Trinidad on the basis of an international arrest on an indictment by a New York Grand Jury in May this year for conspiracy to import cocaine.

Following the arrest in Suriname, Khan who was with 11 others at the time, including three other Guyanese - Paul Rodrigues, Sean Belfield and Lloyd Robert – said to be his bodyguards, was accused by the Surinamese authorities of having links to plots to assassinate key government and judicial officials in that country.

In addition to being deemed a threat to national and international security, the Suriname Minister of Justice said Khan was also being investigated for cocaine trafficking, firearm possession and being part of a criminal gang. Despite those serious accusations, Khan’s expulsion from Suriname was on the basis that he had entered the country illegally.

Meanwhile, the 11 persons arrested with Khan, including his alleged Guyanese bodyguards, Rodrigues, Belfield and Roberts, continue to languish in jail in Suriname though yet to be charged for any offence. The authorities have twice gotten legal approval to further extend the incarceration of the three Guyanese.

The Suriname de Ware Tijd newspaper reported late last month that the investigation might be expanded to other persons on the basis of information received from abroad. It quoted Prosecutor General Subhas Punwasi as saying the 11 persons will remain in custody, as, "there are no grounds for releasing these suspects, the investigation will continue and they will appear before the judge, it's that simple… it is a 'big case', which must be uncovered. . . so it might take a while before the suspects are brought to court."

The investigators are now trying to uncover who else was involved in Khan's alleged criminal activities, the newspaper added. (Guyana Cronicle)

Joint Services intensify

Intelligence guided operations

The Army and Police, having been given “unfettered authority” by President Bharrat Jagdeo in their ‘no-holds-barred’ operations to recover the high-powered weapons that went missing from the Army base in Georgetown a few months ago, are conducting ‘intelligence guided operations’ in specific areas in the volatile East Coast Demerara backlands.

Secretary to the Defence Board Dr. Roger Luncheon yesterday indicated that these ‘intelligence guided operations’ by the Joint Services have intensified and target specific areas in the dense East Coast backlands widely believed to have been a safe haven for armed and dangerous criminals.

Asked at a post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the President yesterday if he is satisfied with the Joint Services efforts so far in trying to recover the missing weapons – among them 30 AK-47 assault rifles - Luncheon said: “I can’t say I am not satisfied (but) I would have hoped that we would have seen a lot more progress, but I am not unmindful of the efforts that are being made.”

“These guys (from the Police and Army) are not exactly sitting around playing marbles or duck-and-drake; they are out there in all sorts of challenging circumstances, they are putting their life on the line and I think we have to keep that in mind,” Luncheon said. He told reporters that while the Joint Services might not have received the kind of results they are looking for, they are sure putting a lot of effort into recovering those weapons.

Luncheon also said there is every reason to believe that heavily armed and dangerous criminals are still hiding out in the East Coast Demerara backlands, even though some persons might want to believe that they have been “chased away” to new hiding grounds with the relentless presence of the Joint Services combing the East Coast backlands.

“We have no reason to believe that the criminals, the bandits, the gangs have removed - whether voluntarily or as a result of the heightened presence of the Joint Services, from the savannah and the backlands.”

“The area is secluded and densely forested and one would only be able to speak authoritatively if you are physically present and know the area and because that has not been done…what we are looking at now are specific operations – intelligence guided operations in specific places (in the backlands),” Luncheon told reporters.

At the beginning of March this year, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) confirmed that 33 of its high-powered AK-47 rifles had been stolen from the weapons storage bond at its Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown.

The confirmation raised fears that the automatic weapons may have been sold to criminal gangs, including those holed out in the violence-prone backlands in Buxton on the East Coast Demerara, known to use AK-47s in attacks.

President Jagdeo has since vowed that “whatever it takes”, the Army will go out and recover the weapons. “The Army will go out and recover those weapons, whatever it takes. They will have to recover those weapons and I hope when they go into some areas that we are not going to hear the talk about excessive force and freedom and all of these things,” President Jagdeo told reporters shortly after the shocking discovery of the missing weapons.

The Joint Services last Saturday night mounted another “massive operation” in the backlands of the lower East Coast, this time from Belfield to Golden Grove as efforts continue to recover the missing AK-47 rifles.

During the operation, two well established camps were discovered and a quantity of items were recovered, including 64 rounds of ammunition for an AK-47 rifle, 56 rounds of ammunition for a G3 rifle, 2 M70 magazines, 1 G3 magazine, five handheld radios, camouflage clothing, one cell phone and a compass.

One of the gunmen hiding out in the two camps which were found by the Joint Services aback the village of Victoria was killed in a shootout on Sunday with the Joint Services ranks. The gunman was identified as Leydon Elvis George Deane, also known as Sheldon Solomon, who was deported from Cayenne on December 13, 2005 after spending 12 months of a two-year prison sentence for possession of firearms.

A ballistic examination of the unlicensed 9mm. Taurus pistol that was found in his possession revealed that the weapon was used during the armed attack on the Two Brothers Gas Station at McDoom, East Bank Demerara, on February 26 last, when three MMC Security Guards were shot and killed. The examination further confirmed that the pistol was used during the fatal shooting of 12-year old student Kevin Brown at his Back Street, McDoom home on March 18 last.

Kevin Brown was killed and his mother Shondel Brown seriously wounded after a group of armed men invaded their home and discharged several shots at members of the family. Shells found at the two scenes have been analysed as having been fired from the pistol found on Deane.

Further ballistic tests were done on spent shells and cartridges recovered at the scene in the Victoria backlands.

Police said these tests have established that three 7.62 spent shells found at Victoria were fired from one of the weapons used during the attack on the Two Brothers Gas Station at McDoom, and at Earl’s Court, LBI where acting Agriculture Minister Satyadeow Sawh and relatives were shot and killed on April 22 last.

Ballistic tests on three empty 12 gauge cartridges found at the scene at Victoria backlands have established that they were fired from the same weapon that was used during the fatal shooting of Kevin Brown, police said. (Guyana Cronicle)

Mystery remains over bizarre deaths

Relatives hoping for answers from post mortem

Danmattie Kayman

MYSTERY last night still surrounded the deaths of four persons, including two children, whose decomposed bodies were found in a house at Grove, East Bank Demerara Wednesday morning, but relatives are looking to today’s post mortem to find out how they died.

The Police have apparently made no headway into the gruesome discovery, as yesterday they only said their investigations were continuing and gave the names of the children who died, after these were affirmed by the media.

The bodies of Fred Looknauth, 66, and Danmatie Kayman, 43, along with her two children Alicia Kirkpatrick, 7 and Melville Jr., 3, were discovered at Lot 102 Grove public road, East Bank Demerara by neighbours.

Kayman, who worked as conductor for the Route 42 mini-bus operated by the father of the three year-old child who died, would have celebrated her 43rd birthday yesterday, but her close relatives only had good times to remember and cry - nothing to celebrate. Her relatives said a bag she always had with her, containing her valuables, and her documents, for which she was planning to migrate, has not been found.

Danmattie moved into the house Looknauth was paid to look after a few months ago, after she was reportedly put out of her house at Kaneville, also on the East Bank Demerara, in a “raw deal” she suffered at the hands of relatives from her first marriage, relatives said.

Her mother, Rita Ramlagan, had told the Guyana Chronicle that the relatives apparently did not like the idea of her “child father” staying with her in the house. They also said she was not having a relationship with Looknauth.

When she went looking for a place, Looknauth reportedly agreed to take her in, and he took care of the children while she was at work. The mother, neighbours said, would stop “three, four times” a day to check on the children, once she knew they were home from school. A neighbour, who said he usually accompanied the little girl across the road when she returned from school, added that what happened to them is “the million dollar question.”

McKena Theobald, called ‘'Pally”, whose daughter married one of Looknauth’s sons, said he misses his “partner.” He said he would usually call on Looknauth every morning when he would go to the Diamond new housing scheme for breakfast, but when he heard no reply Monday and Tuesday, he figured that he was in the rum shop in the village.

According to ‘Pally’, Looknauth would usually take a drink at a shop in the village and he would join him. He said he last saw Looknauth Saturday at around noon when they both helped in picking breadfruit from the tree in the yard Looknauth was taking care of. He said the two of them chatted and then he accompanied him into the street and saw him enter the alleyway to go to his daughter Elaine Ramrattan, who lives at 103 Grove squatting area.

That Saturday was the last she would see her father alive. She said he would usually visit her for food, but he would skip some days as the now dead woman would sometimes cook. Kayman would usually spend the weekend at her mother’s place in East La Penitence. In fact, her mother said she called her Saturday night to tell her to cook chowmein for her and that she was coming over.

However, she failed to show at her mother’s place Saturday night and the father of the three-year-old who was also found dead, went to pick her up at her mother’s place Sunday morning, as per their previous arrangement.

Relatives said he was being questioned by the Police. The woman’s mother, Rita Ramlagan, said she called out at the house both Sunday and Tuesday evenings, but got no response from her daughter, Danmattie. She recalled though that on Sunday night, when she first called, a woman who was entering the yard, said that Danmattie left to go out with her seven-year-old daughter, Alicia. Ramlagan said she heard the three-year-old boy crying inside.

Yesterday, when Ramlagan saw the woman again, the Police were alerted. It was not clear if the woman was taken into Police custody.

Danmattie was found in the bathroom of the upper flat of the building, covered with a cloth, while Looknauth was found in the living room, also covered. The children were found in the lower flat of the building. Neighbours made the startling discovery when they decided to check on a foul smell that was coming from the house. (Neil Marks/Guyana Cronicle)

The bodies of the four persons were discovered yesterday at 102 Grove Public Road by neighbours who checked a strong stench coming from the house

The house, property of a well-known business establishment, was being occupied by Fred Looknauth, 66, who was found dead with a shirt covering his face in the upper flat of the heavily grilled building, his daughter Elaine Ramrattan said.

The others found dead in the house were Danmattie Kayman, a mini-bus conductor who would have celebrated her 43rd birthday today, and her two children, Alicia Kirkpatrick, 7 and Melville J nr. 3.

The woman was found dead in the upstairs bathroom with a sheet covering her. The children were found in the lower flat of the building.

Relatives of the woman said she did not have a relationship with Looknauth, but had been looking for a place to stay after she was evicted from her family’s house at Kaneville, also on the East Bank, and the man had offered to let her stay there until she had left the country, as she was planning to do.

Neighbours who ventured into the house after it began to smell foul did not report seeing marks of violence on the bodies, as they called in the Police who took over the matter.

The house on Grove Public Road in which the four persons were found dead yesterday.

Police said they are investigating the circumstances which led to the death of the four persons whose partly decomposed bodies were found in the house at about 10:15 h yesterday.

Elaine Ramrattan said she last saw her father Saturday evening, when he went by her house, 103 Grove Squatting Area, for dinner.

She said he used to live at her place, but since he was offered to “take care” of the house, he began living there about a year ago. She said she did not find it unusual that he didn’t visit her the days following, since he would come by whenever he felt like. However, an elderly relative and neighbour who were accustomed to seeing Looknauth asked her when she last she saw her father. Then is when they decided to check the house, since a foul smell was coming from it, she said.

She said two youths from the neighbourhood ventured into the property and discovered the bodies after which the Police were called in. The woman who was found dead along with her children was due to visit her mother on Saturday evening, but didn’t do so.

Her mother, Rita Ramlagan, said she received a call from her daughter Saturday afternoon informing her that she would be spending the weekend at her East La Penitence, Georgetown home. Ramlagan said she prepared the chowmein her daughter asked her to cook, but even though she failed to show, she did not take it to mean anything untoward had happened.

She said on Sunday morning, the father of her daughter’s now dead three-year-old son visited her East La Penitence home, saying that she had asked him to pick her up with the bus. But then she informed him that she did not come to spend the night like she said she would.

Ramlagan said the man left and she received no word. On Sunday, she went to visit her other daughter in the Diamond housing scheme, and when she was leaving, at about 18:00 Sunday evening, she decided to check on Danmattie.

However, she said when she reached the house, she called and called, but no one answered. She said she heard a baby crying in the house and then a slender young lady who was going into the yard informed her that Danmattie had left to go out. The elderly woman said she asked the young woman to inform her daughter that she was there.

On Tuesday, Ramlagan said she returned to visit her daughter but no one responded to her calls. She said she noticed that there were no curtains up, and she began to wonder whether her daughter had left for Puerto Rico without telling her.

Ramlagan said her daughter was pursing a job in Puerto Rico and had shown her the documents, promising her that she would work hard and send back money so she would not have to work any more.

A sexagenarian, Ramlagan said she looked forward to the break from her work. But at 11:30 h yesterday she got a call at her workplace that would dash her hopes. When she reached her other daughter’s home in the Diamond housing scheme, she received the startling news.

She said the elderly man had offered her daughter a roof since she was evicted from her home in Kaneville which she used to occupy with her children from her first marriage. They refused to speak with the Guyana Chronicle yesterday.

The dead man’s daughter said neither she nor his other relatives knew much about the woman and she had been living there for about six months now. Elaine Ramrattan said she is his only child here. Her other siblings live overseas, as does her mother, who separated from her father years ago. The bodies of the dead persons are at a city mortuary awaiting post mortem.

The Police have invited anyone with information which could assist in their investigations to contact them on telephone numbers 225-6411, 226-6978, 226-7065, 225-6940, 265-2233 or 911. (Neil Marks/Guyana Cronicle)

Armed man shot aback of Victoria identified

The armed man who was fatally shot during an armed confrontation with ranks of the Joint Services while on an operation in the backlands of Victoria, East Coast Demerara, Sunday, has been identified as Leydon Elvis George Deane, also known as Sheldon Solomon. Deane was deported from Cayenne on December 13th 2005 after spending twelve months of a two years prison sentence for possession of firearms.

The examination further confirmed that the pistol was used during the fatal shooting of 12 year old student Kevin Brown at his Back Street, Mc Doom home on March 18 last. Kevin Brown was killed and his mother Shondel Brown seriously injured after a group of armed men invaded their home and discharged several shots at members of the family. Shells found at the two scenes have been analysed as having been fired from the pistol found on Deane.

Further ballistic tests were done on spent shells and cartridges recovered at the scene in the Victoria backlands. These tests have established that three 7.62 spent shells found at Victoria were fired from one of the weapons used during the attack on the Two Brothers Gas Station at Mc Doom, and also at Earl’s Court, LBI where the late Minister Satyadeow Sawh and relatives were shot and killed on April 22nd LAST.

Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys sentenced a man to six months imprisonment on Monday for stealing a bicycle. Alfred Haniff pleaded guilty to fraudulently converting the property of another person for his own use. It is alleged that on July 27 in Charlestown, Haniff of Lot 4 Princes Street, Charlestown, borrowed the bicycle of Deon Parris and never returned it.

The defendant, asking for a light sentence, explained to the court that he had put the bicycle to lie on the ground and someone who is a known troublemaker picked it up and rode away with it. The defendant stressed how hard he tried to keep on the right side of the law.

He added that after he went to the owner of the bicycle and explained what happened, he was dealt several blows. He then showed the court his swollen arm. The magistrate subsequently sentenced him to six months in prison. (Stabroek News)

A police constable was killed accidentally by another member of the security forces who was clearing his weapon at a criminal camp in the East Coast Demerara backlands discovered in a Joint Services operation Sunday, officials said yesterday.

Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene said there was no report of any animosity between the ranks and Constable Lawrence, reporting that his death was purely accidental.

IN MOURNING: Maud DeViera, grandmother of the late constable Kwesi Lawrence, at her home yesterday.

Lawrence joined the Guyana Police Force nine months ago and was a member of the Tactical Services Unit deployed to the East Coast backlands in the operation to root out criminal elements and find the high-powered weapons discovered missing from the Army’s Camp Ayanganna headquarters earlier this year.

The constable sustained a gunshot wound to his right leg and was taken to the St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Georgetown where he was pronounced dead, Green said.

His father, Patrick Lawrence, was upset that his son could not be treated on the spot, arguing that these are necessary facilities that should be in place during an operation of the kind his son was killed working on. His mother, Vernice, expressed similar concern.

The young constable lived with his grandmother, Maud DeViera, 60, at a house just behind the Craig Assembly of God church, of which he was an active member.

The grieving grandmother said he had been living with her since her husband died at the end of December last year. She said her desire was for him to continue his studies at the Government Technical Institute, but in order to “provide for himself” he started to work in the Police Force.

She said he called her on Saturday saying that he was involved in an operation and had gotten into an accident. She recalled him saying that he jumped out of the vehicle and didn’t get hurt except for hitting his head.

The woman recalled that her grandson was very loving and caring, and whenever he was home, he would always inquire whether she had eaten. She said if he turned on the music, he would ask if it was bothering her.

Pastor Everist Baptiste, whom the young Lawrence confided in, described him as “quiet, but jovial.” He was the drummer for the church band, Vice-President of the Men’s Ministry, and a Sunday School teacher. Lawrence had six other siblings.

Mr. Greene said the Police Force would be supplying the food items for the wake and would also be taking care of the funeral.

BACKLANDS HABITAT

The Joint Services last Saturday night mounted “a massive operation” in the backlands of the lower East Coast from Belfield to Golden Grove as efforts continue to recover the missing AK-47 rifles.

The Joint Services said that during the operation, two well established camps were discovered and a quantity of items were recovered that included 64 rounds of ammunition for an AK-47 rifle, 56 rounds of ammunition for a G3 rifle, 2 M70 magazines, 1 G3 magazine, five handheld radios, camouflage clothing, one cell phone and a compass.

Some of the items discovered in the camps by the Joint Services in the backlands of the lower East Coast Demerara. (Photos, courtesy Joint Services)

As troops were conducting the operation “they came under fire from gunmen in a densely forested area” at approximately 07:45 h on Sunday at Cove and John, a Joint Services release stated. The troops returned fire but the gunmen later fled. One man was later arrested.

Later in the day, at about 18:50 h patrols in the backlands of Victoria came in contact with a group of armed men who opened fire on them. According to the Joint Services, the Police and Army returned fire, fatally wounding one of the gunmen who remained unidentified.

Commissioner Greene said the “bandit” was armed with a grenade, but before he could launch it, it exploded in his hand, severing one of his arms. During the confrontation, one Policeman and two soldiers were injured.

The two soldiers, Sergeant Dexter Bond and Private E. Boyce, were reported as being in a stable condition yesterday. Bond, however, was up to press time in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

The dead man had a 9mm Taurus pistol which investigations revealed belonged to the Police Constable Sundat Ramoutar who was burnt to death in a car at Buxton late last year. In addition, one of the radios found was the same taken from the East Demerara sugar workers who were beaten in the backlands of Lusignan on July 24 last.

Commissioner Greene said it had not been determined how long the men were holed out in the backlands, neither could he give an estimate of how many men were using the camps. As the operation continues the Joint Services is appealing to members of the public to report any suspicious movements in their areas.

The Joint Services also thanked members of the public who continue to provide credible information. (Neil Marks/Guyana Cronicle)

Chinese radio boost for Guyana police

Chinese Ambassador Shen Qing hands over the radio sets to acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene, as Home Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira looks on.

At a simple ceremony at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Chinese Ambassador here, Mr. Shen Qing handed over the communication equipment worth some $4M to Mr. Greene.

Describing the radio sets as a “significant boost”, Greene noted that the donation by the Chinese government is very timely, because during an assessment of preparations for security against the background of national elections, it was found that radio communication was a deficient area within the force, and it was contemplating renting radio sets.

The donation will now make that unnecessary, he added, pointing out that the encrypted radio sets received will be able to synchronise with the Police Force’s existing system. Greene underscored the importance of such equipment in rapid communication, particularly in cases of urgency.

He also assured adequate security will be provided by the force during this election period, with regular patrols, monitoring and a standby force should there be any trouble.

On the issue of complaints of difficulties by members of the public in getting through to certain locations of the Police Force through the emergency telephone number 911, Assistant Commissioner (Operations), Ronald Stuart said the problems lie with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company.

He said that during discussions with the company the Police Force was assured that the problems will be fixed shortly by repairing or replacing systems where necessary.

Ambassador Qing recalled that Guyana and China have enjoyed fruitful relations for a very long time and the donation of the equipment is an endorsement by his country of the commitment by the government here towards improving security.

It also represents another step in cooperation between Guyana and China, and the latter is willing to engage in further cooperation in the area of security, he said.

He observed that China, like Guyana, attaches great importance to security and expressed confidence that efforts by the Government of Guyana would lead to improved security for the country.

He said the donation will help the Police Force here to respond more promptly and effectively to requests from the public.

The Ambassador also assured of the quality of the radios, pointing out that apart from their use in China, where they are being manufactured, they have been successfully used in Bangladesh, Mongolia and Iraq.

Home Affairs Minister Ms. Gail Teixeira in expressing gratitude to Ambassador Qing for keeping a promise he made when approached for help, said the Police Force was extremely excited about the prospects of receiving the sets because of the shortage it faced in communication equipment.

She also indicated that the donation was very timely and will be extremely useful in the face of the need for increased security during the elections period. (Chamanlall Naipaul/Guyana Cronicle)

Gun found on criminal belonged to slain cop

Joint Services

THE 9mm pistol the Joint Services recovered from the unidentified criminal who was killed in the backlands on the lower East Coast Sunday belonged to Constable Sundat Ramoutar whose charred remains were found at Buxton late last year, the Joint Services said yesterday.

Police on October 18, 2005 found the charred remains of Ramoutar, 30, of Owen Street, Kitty, and his neighbour, Suresh Persaud, 43, of Lot 1 Owen Street, Kitty, Georgetown, a fishmonger, in a car trunk after gunshots were heard in the troubled East Coast Demerara Buxton/Stratsphey villages.

The corpses were locked in the trunk of an ‘AT 192’ Toyota motor car shell on Stratsphey railway embankment. Ramoutar was a Constable in the Police Tactical Services Unit (TSU). The victims were beaten by an angry mob, then shot and killed and bundled into the vehicle that was torched. (Guyana Cronicle)