March 28, 2007
Man remanded over obstructing CANU officers
Colin Cockfield
Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys yesterday refused bail to a man accused of obstructing CANU officers when they were conducting a search at a home. Colin Cockfield who resides on the East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty to obstruction at the George-town Magistrate's Court.
It is alleged that on March 21 at 54 D'Urban Street, Werk-en-Rust, Cockfield obstructed members of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) who were acting in the execution of their duties. He is alleged to have locked a gate preventing the officers from going into the house.
Cockfield said, "I was outside of the premises and I saw them with guns and they say they looking for cocaine but I didn't see any search warrant or anything."
He added that he did not interfere with the officers who he claimed went into the home and found what they were looking for. He will return to court on March 29. (Stabroek News)
March 26, 2007
Cocaine ship seized off Panama by US Coast Guard
.......had been in Guyana in past
A cargo vessel that was busted early last week off the coast of Panama with over 43,000 pounds of cocaine making it the biggest maritime cocaine bust in history was in Guyana a few weeks ago, a report in the Associated Press has said.
The vessel frequented this country to offload shipments of fertilizers and the owner had ties with a local business firm. The AP report said that according to Panama's top drug prosecutor Jose Almengor, the drugs were found in containers on the ship.
On Wednesday the Reuters news agency reported that US and Panamanian authorities had seized 19.4 tonnes of cocaine on board the Ship MV Gatun in the Pacific. According to the Reuters report US anti-drug officials and Panamanian police found the narcotics hidden in the cargo area of the ship, which is registered in Panama.
Reports state that US Coast Guard officials detained 11 Mexicans and three Panamanians during the seizure. The Mexicans will be taken to the US to face trial, while the Panamanians will be tried in Panama.
The MV Gatun first caught the eyes of drug enforcement late last year when it changed course on its way to Guyana. The ship had left Venezuela with fertiliser for rice producers here. Stabroek News was told that the ship owner had ties with a local businessman here.
According to reports during the journey to Guyana the boat made a sudden change of course and headed to Mexico, claiming engine problems. A Guyanese official had sought the intervention of Venezuela to ascertain the reasons for the change. It is unclear when the ship got back on course and eventually arrived in Guyana. Stabroek News understands that the ship makes regular trips to Georgetown.
Reports are that a US Coast Guard patrol aircraft initially spotted the ship last Saturday week. After obtaining permission from the Government of Panama, a Coast Guard boarding team searched it on Sunday and discovered the drugs.
Officials believe fast boats from Colombia may have delivered the cocaine to the ship after it had passed through the Panama Canal. According to the AP report most of the cocaine will be sent to the United States to be destroyed, but Panama will keep more than 200 pounds as evidence.
Meanwhile, a report in last week's Tampa Tribune out of Florida said that the investigators of Operation Panama Express broke their record with the Coast Guard's seizure of the large quantity of cocaine. According to the Tampa Tribune, Sunday's interdiction of the freighter Gatun off the coast of Panama came 17 days after the US Coast Guard had stopped another vessel, the Ocean Song, carrying about 11 1/2 tonnes of cocaine south of Guatemala. In addition to being a record individual bust, the seizure made March a record month in international maritime cocaine seizures.
The Tampa Tribune said that so far this year, the Tampa-based international cocaine trafficking investigation had been responsible for six maritime interdictions, with more than 40 tonnes of cocaine seized or scuttled at sea, said Assistant US Attorney Joseph K. Ruddy, who oversees the task force from his office in Tampa, Florida.
According to the Tribune, Ruddy said that the task force had more than 80 agents and analysts working from Tampa to recruit and develop sources of information about maritime cocaine trafficking. The agents come from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforce-ment, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Coast Guard and sheriff's deputies from Hillsborough, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.
The newspaper further reported Ruddy as estimating the street value of the latest Panama cocaine haul at about $400 million.
Investigators say drug traffickers have spread their activities outside Colombia to other countries in Latin America to thwart law enforcement efforts by making their operations less concentrated and more difficult to monitor. Guyana is seen as a trans-shipment point for cocaine destined for North America and Europe. Several shipments of drugs originating from Guyana have been seized overseas in the past. (Stabroek News)
Armed bandits target two gas stations
Armed bandits targeted gas stations over the weekend, robbing one on the West Bank of Demerara of a large sum of cash on Saturday and another on Sheriff Street in Georgetown early yesterday morning of cash and gasoline.
According to a statement by the police around 11.50 on Saturday night three men, one armed with a gun robbed the J & R Petrol Station at Nismes, West Bank Demerara of an undisclosed sum of cash and a quantity of phone cards.
The police said that the bandits walked into the compound and held up the pump attendant, Adyta Singh, assaulted him and then ordered him to lie on the ground. The pump attendant was then robbed of a large sum of cash. Anil Singh another employee who was at the time in the station, was robbed of a quantity of phone cards. The bandits then fled the scene.
Then around 4 am yesterday, three bandits, again all armed with guns, robbed the Guyana Oil Company (Guyoil) of $26,145 and a quantity of gasoline. Police said that the robbers drove into the gas station on Sheriff Street and ordered the pump attendant, Claude King, to fill the car's tank with fuel. After completing this, the bandits robbed King of cash and drove away. The police said they were investigating both incidents.
March 24, 2007
Bandits beat, rob Angoy's Avenue family
The house at Timmers Dam, Angoy's Avenue. A bullet hole can be seen in the wall at right.
Five bandits, two of whom were armed with "one long and one short gun", attacked and robbed a family at Timmers Dam, Angoy's Avenue in New Amsterdam of $4,000 and a quantity of gold jewellery worth $130,000 around 1:50 am yesterday.
The bandits who gained entry to the two-flat building by breaking a louvre window and removing a few wooden bars also carted off a cell phone. Stabroek News learnt that two of the bandits were masked.
After entering the house the men fired several shots and demanded cash and jewellery from the occupants, Maureen Pablo, who is in her 50s, her daughter, Brenda Junior, 28, son-in-law, Victor Junior, 32, and her grandchildren. Police reportedly recovered a warhead from the door.
The bandits gun-butted Victor Junior and Pablo on their head and nose respectively and they had to be treated at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
When this newspaper arrived at the scene yesterday morning the family was busy cleaning up the mess the bandits made and was too terrified to talk about their ordeal. A bullet hole was observed on the wall of the house.
In frustration, Pablo shouted "everything done happen already; no reporter can't clean up the mess or give me money." She was also grumbling that she visited the hospital and had to spend a long time before she could get through, while others came after her and were attended to before her.
Neighbours recounted that they were awakened to the sound of loud banging on the family's door which lasted for about 15 minutes, followed by the gunshots. They said they were too afraid to look out.
One resident said the area is noted for having robberies and he is afraid of venturing out in certain sections alone. According to him, he would often would hear gunshots ringing out but prefers not to find out where the shots were coming from because "dangerous elements are living right within the area." (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Schoolgirl to stand trial for manslaughter
Jacklyn Levius
The Richard Ishmael student who was accused of fatally stabbing a woman at her school just over a year ago was yesterday committed to stand trial for manslaughter.
Magistrate Oneidge Walrond-Allicock ruled yesterday at Court Six that there was not enough evidence to support a charge of murder. However, there was evidence for manslaughter and the teenager was released on $75,000 bail.
Loud wails came from the teenager when she heard what the magistrate said and realized that she could go home. Her family, clearly overjoyed that she was to be released on bail, hugged her.
It is alleged that on November 31, 2005 the teenager who was then 15 murdered Jacklyn Levius. According to the facts of the case, Levius had gone to the school to meet the headmistress in relation to an incident that occurred the previous day between the accused and another student of the school.
The teenager was asked to visit the office but refused and as a result Levius and others decided to go in search of her. Somewhere along the way, after an exchange of words between the two parties, the teenager allegedly grabbed Levius and stabbed her. The injured woman died a few hours later at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The teen is expected to stand trial at the next sitting of the High Court. She was represented by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos. (Stabroek News)
Suspect arrested after Caneville guns and ammo find
An East Bank Demerara man was on Thursday arrested after a police cordon and search operation unearthed two guns with matching ammunition.
Police, in a statement, said ranks from the Golden Grove Police Station conducted the exercise at a Caneville house when two revolvers: one Rohm .22 revolver with two .22 matching rounds and one Taurus .32 revolver with five .32 matching rounds, were found.
A suspect who was at the time in the house was arrested. Charges will be instituted shortly and investigations are continuing. (Stabroek News)
March 21, 2007
Bandits rob Gizmos and Gadgets branch Beat employees
The Wireless Rush store robbed yesterday afternoon
Armed bandits late yesterday afternoon swooped on Wireless Rush, a branch of the Gizmos and Gadgets firm, beating and terrorising staff members before making off with an undisclosed amount of cash and more than $1M in cellular phones and small electronic items.
Ms. Varsha Sharma, Managing Director of the business at the corner of Robb Street and Avenue of the Republic, said she was at the time at Gizmos and Gadgets on Wellington Street.
Speaking with reporters at the scene of the robbery last night, she said she was alerted by her assaulted and badly traumatised staff shortly after 17:45h, following the robbery ordeal which lasted several minutes. Sharma said that at the end of the working day there were four staff members in the store – two males and two females.
She said that as they were closing the store, a young man who was outside closing the shutters, was returning into the building when he was confronted by an armed man who forced him into the store and ordered him to lie face down on the floor and not say a word.
Then turning to the other male employee, who was on the inside putting up fliers, the man ordered him to lie face down also, Sharma related. In the meantime, she said, another armed man barged into the store, jumped over the counter and ordered the two young women at the cashier booth and service centre to get down on the floor as well.
She said the men ordered the terrified staff to tell them where the cash and phones were, violently kicking them and threatening to shoot. Frightened for their lives, the employees showed the men to the drawer with the money and told them where the cell phones were.
Sharma said that at first the men refused to believe that the cash in the drawer was all that was in the store and began kicking the employees even more violently. They took the money from the drawer and hastily began emptying the phones from the boxes, the staff reported.
However, they were unable to say whether the men placed the phones in bags or had a vehicle waiting outside for them, since throughout the ordeal they were forced to keep their heads down to the ground. But from where they were, the staff could hear the men hurriedly emptying the cell phones from the boxes.
It also appeared to them that there were about three men or possibly more on the scene, and those in the store were linked up to others outside by way of a radio set. The employees said they could hear them speaking on the transceiver set, telling persons at the other end: “We coming now; we coming now!”
In the frenzy, staff said, one of the men looked up and saw an internal camera and became incensed. He again began kicking the employees and demanded they hand over the tape for the display monitor. One of the female employees tried to convince him that it was only a display monitor and was not functioning. He attempted breaking it, but another of the men cautioned him not to, lest it should trigger an alarm.
The staff said that somehow, in the ordeal, one of the cashiers managed to press the alarm button but MMC which provides the security service to them failed to respond and they were not sure why. As the bandits were preparing to leave the store, they ordered the staff to continue lying face down and count from one to 100, during which time they opened the show case and took away several I-pods.
Sharma said that when the robbery was over and the men had left with the booty, the MMC and the police arrived on the scene. By them reporters had already begun showing up. Also at the scene last night were Mr. C.N. Sharma and his wife Savitri, parents of Varsha Sharma. Wireless Rush has been operating from that location for about a year now, Sharma said. (Guyana Cronicle)
Woman on AK-47 charge refused bail
Stacy Ann Barron
Particulars of the offence, to which she pleaded not guilty, said Barron had the gun on March 14, without being the holder of a valid firearm licence. But attorney-at-law Ms. Mishka Puran, for the Defence, claimed the weapon was found on top of a wardrobe that is about six feet high and out of Barron’s sight.
The lawyer said, though, that Barron shares the home with a mate who would have a number of men visitors when she is not present. Puran said Barron was not in the building when the search was conducted and Police had to break open her door. Police Inspector Desiree Fowler, prosecuting, successfully objected to bail for Barron, alluding to the seriousness and prevalence of the crime.
The Prosecutor declared that the AK-47 is the type of gun that is responsible for the state in which Guyana has found itself, with regards to crime. Fowler also refuted the Defence claim and said Barron is the lone occupant of the Church Street premises and only she has a key to the room from where the AK-47 was unearthed.
Barron was remanded to prison and her case has ben transferred to another court for April 5. A Joint Services release about the discovery said part of the gun butt had been sawn off. (Guyana Cronicle)
March 20, 2007
Police find sub-machine gun at home of slain ex-cop
Police said they yesterday found a Beretta 9mm sub-machine gun and three magazines containing 90 matching rounds at the home of an ex-cop shot dead Sunday night. A police report said that at about 20:30h Sunday, Orlando Edwards, called `Lance’, 30, was fatally shot by two men armed with guns on Graham Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
Edwards had just dropped off a female acquaintance with motor car licence plate PJJ 930, when the gunmen drove up in another car, left the vehicle and fired several shots in his direction, hitting him in his chest, police said. He was dead when he was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
Police said they found on him, a 9mm pistol with two magazines containing 25 rounds of matching ammunition which he was licenced to carry. According to the police report, the sub-machine gun and ammo were found when they searched his residence at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara yesterday. Investigations were last night continuing into the killing, police said. (Guyana Cronicle)
Barbadian robbed in city hotel after row
A Barbadian staying at a hotel on Sheriff Street, Georgetown, was Sunday night robbed by gunmen who stuck him up in his room after he had an altercation with a Guyanese woman acquaintance, police said. Police said that at about 21:40h Sunday, three men, one with a suitcase, turned up at the hotel and approached the receptionist asking about a room. They then whipped out guns, held up the security guard and receptionist.
Police said they robbed the receptionist of $20,000 and while one stood guard over her, they ordered the security guard to take them to a specific room where they held up Peter Douglas, a Barbadian guest, and robbed him of G$18,000 cash and silver jewellery.
Police said Douglas had earlier had an altercation with a Guyanese female acquaintance who was not there when he was robbed. (Guyana Cronicle)
Sirens warning
The Police Traffic Department is warning drivers to adhere to rules set out for the sounding of sirens from approaching police and Fire Service vehicles.
In a release yesterday, it reminded that according to the Road Traffic (Guyana Fire Service) order Regulation 4(1), every vehicle shall, upon the approach of a vehicle of the Fire Service, or an approved police vehicle, stop as near as possible to the left side of the road and during the hour of darkness, dip or dim its lights, and remain stationary until the vehicle of the Fire Service or approved police vehicle has passed.
It said that according to Regulation 4(2), every vehicle travelling on a dual carriageway shall, upon the approach of a vehicle of the Fire Service, or an approved police vehicle, stop as near as possible to either side of the road, and during the hours of darkness, dip or dim its lights, and remain stationary until the vehicle of the Fire Service or approved police vehicle has passed. The Traffic Department said those who do not obey these rules can face prosecution. (Guyana Cronicle)
March 17, 2007
Bouterse apologises for 1982 Suriname killings
Says `politically responsible'
Desi Bouterse
Former army chief and military dictator of Suriname, Desi Bouterse, on Sunday publicly apologized for the first time for the 1982 killing of 15 political opponents, Radio Netherlands (RN) said on Monday. In December 1982, a group of labour union activists in Suriname were executed in Paramaribo without a trial.
The regime in the former Dutch colony alleged that the 15 men were plotting a coup and were shot as they tried to flee, but no evidence of this was ever made public and no one has ever been tried for the killings, RN stated. At the time, Bouterse said the 15 people who were executed were "all people connected with parts of the CIA."
RN noted that it was something of an unexpected twist that Bouterse, who was speaking Sunday at a youth rally to mark the 27th anniversary of his successful coup on February 25, 1980, admitted to being "politically responsible" for the killings.
Caribbean Net News, reporting from Paramaribo, Suriname, quoted Bouterse as saying, "I am apologising to all the surviving relatives," and he further stated that the entire Surinamese community should participate in seeking the truth of that "dark chapter in Suriname's history".
The fifteen victims, Net News reported, included journalists, lecturers, trade unionists, lawyers, army officers and businessmen, who were tortured and executed after an allegedly foiled attempt to overthrow his military government.
According to RN, he has denied direct responsibility saying he didn't pull the trigger, but his admission could have consequences for relatives of those killed who want Bouterse prosecuted. Many of those relatives now live in the Netherlands and they have been building up a case for many years.
The Dutch were so outraged by the extra-judicial killings, RN said, that shortly after the executions the Netherlands and the United States suspended economic and military assistance to the Bouterse regime.
RN said further that since the killings investigators have been trying to piece together what had occurred for many years. Meantime, Amnesty International reported that by mid-2002, 160 people had testified at an inquiry into the 'December murders'. Surinamese investigators travelled to the Netherlands to hear testimony from people there, RN said.
However, RN reported that not all the evidence may be sound as there were claims that some witnesses chose to 'adjust' their testimonies out of fear of reprisals from Bouterse or his henchmen. Investigators will have to decide what step to take next since Bouterse has confessed to being 'politically', though not directly, responsible for the murder of the 15 people.
According to Net News, Bouterse gave the youths his side of the story, since according to him, representation of the events back then by political opponents were false.
At Sunday's meeting he also called for amnesty for the alleged suspects in the 1982 killings, siding with coalition leader Paul Somohardjo, who recently abandoned his earlier position to bring the suspects to justice. Bouterse argued, Net News stated, that since amnesty was granted to persons including former rebel leader Ronnie Brunswijk for their role in the civil war during the late 80s and early 90s, amnesty should also be an option in the so-called 'December murders' of 1982.
Net News reported also that currently, the Court of Justice is reviewing motions of several of these suspects, including Bouterse, arguing that the Public Prosecutor should cross them off the list of suspects. It is expected that the court will reject the motion and in doing so clear the way for a Military Court to try the more than 20 suspects later this year.
At the time of the killings, Net News recalled, Bouterse had said the fifteen people who were executed were conspiring with the CIA to topple his regime.
After the killings he read a statement on television, alleging that the fifteen victims were trying to escape when they were shot. Eyewitnesses who saw the bodies said that several of the victims showed gunshot wounds in the chest, abdomen and face suggesting that they were executed by a firing squad, Net News reported.
Meanwhile in 2004 forensic experts investigated the alleged killing site, Fort Zeelandia, in Paramaribo to gather evidence in the case prosecutors are building against the suspects. (Stabroek News)
Organised crime probably greatest threat facing Guyana
UK High Commissioner tells Rotary dinner
Fraser Wheeler
United Kingdom High Com-missioner Fraser Wheeler says organized crime is probably the greatest threat facing Guyana. He was at the time speaking at a recent dinner hosted by the Rotary Club of Demerara. A summary of his presentation was released to the media by the UK High Commission on Thursday.
Wheeler noted however that this country was not alone in the problem which he said was also, "a global, regional and national phenomenon."
According to the UK High Commissioner the smuggling of narcotic drugs is a particular problem which not only stifles legitimate business and undermines the local economy but also contributes to the proliferation of small arms on the streets of Georgetown and also undermines governance.
"Guyana requires a comprehensive solution to deal with crime and security and I hope that the British government will be able to make a significant contribution to this effort in the coming months," Wheeler said. The release of the remarks on Thursday comes just days after a stinging report by the US State Department on deficiencies in Guyana's fight against drugs and money laundering. The US report was subsequently bitterly attacked by President Bharrat Jagdeo at the army's annual officers' conference.
Meanwhile as regards governance, the UK high commissioner noted that a number of Guyana's challenges are regional in nature and therefore require regional solutions. To this end he recommended regional integration using new regional governance models which are currently under consideration which may well be the future.
Wheeler pointed out also the critical need for the government to implement governance reforms which it had committed to doing, an effort he said that the international community stood ready to fully support.
He emphasized, too, the thrust of globalization which he said was about justice and fairness as well as security and prosperity. "We cannot for example call ourselves in Europe and North America open societies and close our markets to free trade with the poorest countries. There is no prosperity without security and no security without justice," he contended.
He argued too that all these issues were inter-linked and solutions to them would therefore have to be cross-cutting. "It is not possible to reduce poverty without for example containing crime, improving governance, creating an economic regime conducive to investment and mitigating climate change", he asserted
On the human resource side, Wheeler alluded to the large percentage of University graduates that were leaving these shores, a loss which he said is partly explained by the lure of higher salaries. He said the 90% loss in graduates was not sustainable, but noted that there were other factors responsible for this.
"It is about the interaction of the economic, security and governance issues I have highlighted and the loss of capacity from those graduates leaving means that it is harder to make the necessary reforms. Fewer reforms means more leave," he added. It is in this vein that the UK High Commissioner posited that "the breaking of that cycle is critical to the future of Guyana and the international community stands ready to help".
Wheeler however express-ed optimism regarding Guy-ana's future. He congratulated government and the private sector on agreeing and finalizing the national competitiveness strategy and said that the key now was the strategy's full implementation which is the most important factor in Guyana achieving sustained economic growth.
"Within that strategy the ongoing programmes on diversification of agriculture and promotion of tourism appear to be going well…there remains a great deal to do and the international community is ready to help," he insisted.
In this regard he recommended too that after the Cricket World Cup games are over this area be given priority since there are major opportunities to be realized for Guyana. (Stabroek News)
Hunt continues for escaped prisoners
Police were up to late yesterday still searching for the three prisoners who escaped Thursday afternoon in New Amsterdam while under police escort from the Magistrate’s Court on the Corentyne, Berbice. Road blocks have been set up and police mobile and riverain patrols were continuing last yesterday afternoon.
Samuel Fable Derick Busjit
The three escapees are Samuel Fable, also known as John Fable and John Simpson, of Fyrish and Alness villages on the Corentyne, and Angoy’s Avenue on the eastern fringes of New Amsterdam; Deryck Busjit, 20, of Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder; and Gavin Balkissoon of Number 74 Village, Corentyne.
Fable is charged with two others for the early morning murder of Gangaram Busjit, 27, at Liverpool, Corentyne last year.
Busjit, a butcher, awoke at 03:00h and went to an outhouse in his backyard and was shot several times. Busjit is charged with the gruesome murder of American citizen Kalidas Surjnarine, 74, whose nude and headless body was found in his yard at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder on November 27, 2004. Busjit is jointly charged with his sixteen-year old sibling. Their mother, Bhanmattie Singh, of Lot 52 Mibicuri, was charged with being an accessory to the crime.
Balkissoon is charged with having a smoking utensil used for smoking cocaine. The three fled from a van at about 15:30h near the New Amsterdam Technical Institute.
Police said the men were in the van, cut the lock from inside and jumped out of the vehicle just after it had come off the Canje Bridge. Cops pursuing the three prisoners said they could not open fire because students from a nearby primary school, who were just out of school, were in the area. The men were seen briefly in Nurseville, a residential area just east of the Canje Bridge, but fled up the Canje Creek.
Police said footwear and clothing were found on a bank of the creek. Roadblocks were thrown up along the Corentyne Highway as police extended the search for the escaped prisoners. (Guyana Cronicle)
Buddy’s on Brickdam robbed Guard shot
Three gunmen yesterday afternoon robbed the Company Secretary of Buddy’s business place on Brickdam, Georgetown and shot a security guard who put up a fight, police said. The gunmen went to the place around 14:45h stating they were there on business but stuck up and robbed Meena Mookram of $40,000, a Taurus .32 pistol and 22 rounds matching ammunition.
Police said they also took away a .32 Taurus pistol and 11 rounds of ammunition from security guard Prince Edwards. According to police, Edwards was shot in the left thigh when he put up a fight with the men as they were leaving after robbing Mookram. The guard was treated for his injury at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and sent away.
The Brickdam location has offices for Omprakash `Buddy’ Shivraj, owner of the recently-opened Buddy’s International Hotel at Providence, East Bank Demerara. And about an hour earlier yesterday, Allison Brewster, 44, a cashier of 2J’s Store on Regent Street, Bourda, Georgetown, was robbed by two gunmen of an undisclosed amount of foreign and local currency.
Police said the robbers usually visit the store and fled on a motorcycle after the robbery yesterday. Police said that at about 03:00h Thursday, four men, one with a gun, robbed the Ogle Petrol Station, East Coast Demerara, of articles and a security guard of his transmitting set.
They robbed Milton Simon of a cellular phone and his transmitting set, property of a popular security service, police said. The bandits tied up Simon, broke into the building, stole several gift sets and fled, police said. (Guyana Cronicle)
March 16, 2007
Three prisoners in dramatic escape from NA police
Murder accused on the run
Police in Berbice were up to press time last night searching for three prisoners who cut a lock on a moving van and jumped out onto the Canje Bridge while being escorted from court to the New Amsterdam Prison.
Those who escaped are: Derick Busjit of Black Bush Polder, Samuel Fable of Alness Village, Corentyne and Gavin Balkisoon of No. 74 Village, Corentyne . The trio was on remand; Busjit and Fable for murders and Balkissoon on a narcotics offence.
Police said that a manhunt has been launched and up to late last night ranks were conducting searches in the Canje/Smythfield area. The prisoners were returning to New Amsterdam after attending court at Albion when they cut off the lock at the back of a jeep they were in and escaped.
Several prisoners over the past two years have managed to break free from police escorts while attending court and escape. Luckily most of them were recaptured. Fable was on remand for the murder of a 27-year-old butcher, Gangaram Busjit last year November at Liverpool, Corentyne.
Busjit was gunned down in his backyard. Reports were that Busjit got up around 3 am on the day of his murder to go to the pit latrine, which is located not too far from the house. While downstairs he was shot several times. Police have also charged Seenarine Deonarine, 49, of Kilmarnock Village, Corentyne and Samuel Fraser called 'Charlie' of Liverpool Village, Corentyne. It is not clear whose murder Derick Busjit is charged with, but Balkissoon is said to be facing a charge of possession of instruments used to smoke cocaine.
The escapes come in the wake of serious problems in the prison system. The Georgetown Prison over the last year has been a hotbed of unrest with rooftop protests and destruction of walls. The latest incident occurred on February 23.
Meanwhile, there have been several break-outs from the Mazaruni Jail. One of the persons who escaped late last year is still on the run and is now a suspect in a murder case.
On January 12, nine men fled from the Mazaruni jail and though they were recaptured within days, the break-out raised serious questions about prison security. In the attempt to recapture the nine, two members of the security forces were injured in a friendly fire incident.
Ronald Daniels who fled from the Mazaruni Jail on December 6 has been terrorizing residents on several parts of the Essequibo and is now wanted for questioning in relation to the murder of an Essequibo logger. (Stabroek News)
AK-47 found in raid not from GDF
The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) yesterday said the AK-47 rifle found in a raid on a house in Georgetown Wednesday afternoon is not from the 30 reported stolen from a storage bond at its Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown just over a year ago.
The GDF said checks it had done on the AK-47, with part of the butt sawn off, have established that the rifle is not one missing from the GDF bond. The Joint Services, acting on information received, raided the two-flat house on Church Street and held five persons after the discovery of the AK-47.
Police were yesterday continuing investigations into the weapon find. Soldiers and police sealed off part of Church Street during the Wednesday operation which stretched into nightfall.
GDF Chief of Staff, Brigadier Edward Collins, last week said the recovery of the missing AK-47 weapons “must remain on our operational radar” and urged the Army’s intelligence to “accelerate its rebuilding process to develop new operatives, having suffered from a nasty blow to their clandestine efforts and a serious dent to their intelligence collection plan”.
Acknowledging that these things take time, Collins said the Army will continue to use whatever means available to recover the weapons. Some of the AK-47 rifles have been found but most remain missing. (Guyana Cronicle)
March 15, 2007
AK-47 rifle found in city raid Five held
CITY RAID: troops outside the house during the operation yesterday.
The Joint Services, acting on information received, yesterday raided a house on Church Street, Georgetown and found an AK-47 rifle.
The Joint Services said five persons were held in the operation which is continuing and promised more details as the investigation unfolds.
The operation began around 14:00h at a two-storey building at Lot 190 B Church Street, North Cummingsburg.
The AK-47 rifle with part of its butt sawn off was found in the upper flat of the building, the Joint Services said. Soldiers and police sealed off part of Church Street during the operation which stretched into nightfall.
It was not immediately clear if the AK-47 rifle found yesterday was from the 30 stolen from a storage bond at the Guyana Defence Force Camp Ayanganna headquarters in Georgetown more than a year ago.
GDF Chief of Staff, Brigadier Edward Collins, last week said the recovery of the missing AK-47 weapons “must remain on our operational radar” and urged the Army’s intelligence to “accelerate its rebuilding process to develop new operatives, having suffered from a nasty blow to their clandestine efforts and a serious dent to their intelligence collection plan”.
Acknowledging that these things take time, Collins said the Army will continue to use whatever means available to recover the weapons. “That’s an order and recovering those weapons, being the end must justify the means (and) you have my word that I am not one to be questioning means once the weapons are recovered”, he told the annual Army Officers Conference.
“Just as how we remained undaunted in 2006 by the theft of our weapons (missing AK-47s) and strove manfully to recover them while at the same time ensuring internal stability, so it is that we will continue this year to prosecute operations to ensure that high profile security activities such as the Cricket World Cup 2007 take place in a climate that is free from fear”, he said.
Last year, he recalled, was “marked by very high operational tempo occasioned by the theft of the weapons”, referring to the shocking disappearance of the 30 high-powered AK-47 assault rifles from the GDF storage bond, and the continuing efforts to recover all the weapons.
Noting that Operation Ferret was launched to recover the weapons, with its subsidiary Opposition Centipede, Collins said these operations are by “any comparison the longest operation ever conducted by the Joint Services” but worth every ounce of operational energy and effort. Some of the AK-47 rifles have been found but the bulk remain missing. (Guyana Cronicle / (Delano Williams photo)
March 14, 2007
Morgan likely one of 14 on US list
Peter Morgan
Attorney-General Doodnauth Singh says businessman Peter Morgan, who was arrested in Trinidad last Friday, would likely be one of the 14 Guyanese the US Govern-ment had indicated it wanted to extradite two years ago to face drug trafficking charges.
However, he said Guyana does not know the names of the other men and asserted that the administration would cooperate with the US authorities if any requests for extradition were made.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at the National Assembly, Singh said government did not have a list of names, but he said the fact that an indictment was unsealed for Morgan meant he was one of the 14 on the list.
Back in May of 2004, visiting US authorities had indicated to Singh that they had prepared indictments for 14 Guyanese, which had been sealed. Singh had met US Attorneys from New York and US Drug Enforcement Admi-nistration agents.
The AG had told reporters then that the US representatives had outlined their efforts to prosecute Guyanese, but did not name suspects. Stabroek News was told that a number of businessmen are among the 14 Guyanese indicted.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said yesterday that under the Advanced Pro-tection Information System, which was agreed upon by member states of Caricom, the names of a number of wanted suspects are stored in a fusion centre in Barbados. Rohee said Morgan might have been on that list, but he could not say if any other Guyanese is on it.
Rohee told reporters that nobody knew the other names except the people in the fusion centre. Asked why Guyana did not take steps to arrest Morgan as was done in Trinidad, Rohee said not all the names were shared with each country.
Sources have said that Washington does not have confidence in the local law enforcement agencies handling extradition requests. Asked whether he believed Guyana was extradition-friendly, Rohee said the country has an extradition treaty with the US and he cannot remember any instance when Guyana did not cooperate with Washington on any matter.
Several years ago, the US had unsealed indictments against four Guyanese including Christopher Raffel Douglas. US authorities had then approached local authorities for assistance in apprehending the quartet, but it appears the four men got wind of the impending move and fled the jurisdiction.
Douglas was subsequently apprehended in Trinidad and then extradited to the US. The others were never found and it appears that other indictments were not unsealed because the US was concerned that the persons might not be apprehended.
Well-placed sources had told Stabroek News that the indictments had been composed in various US courts for several Guyanese but remained sealed until such time as an arrest appeared possible. This was the same procedure used to target and capture drug-indicted businessman Roger Khan.
Morgan, facing three counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine into the US, appeared in a Trinidad court on Monday and was refused bail. He will return to court next Monday. Trinidadian authorities told the court that he was also a primary supplier of cocaine to Trinidad, Bar-bados, St Maarten and Canada.
Head of the T&T Central Authority Unit (CAU) in the Ministry of the Attorney-General attorney David West told the court on Monday that Morgan was a primary cocaine supplier to Trinidad, Barbados, St Maarten and Canada and that between October 2001 and 2003 the Guyanese trafficked in between 15 kilos and 100 kilos of cocaine to these countries and the US.
The Oleander Gardens resident was arrested on a provisional arrest warrant by US drug agents working with Trinidad authorities on Friday afternoon at Piarco Inter-national Airport, just days after an indictment was unsealed in a New York court charging him with three counts of drug conspiracy.
West told the court on Monday that the Trinidadian authorities are awaiting certain documentation from the US Government before the process of extraditing Morgan commences. According to the warrant, between October 1, 2001 and August 31, 2003, Morgan allegedly knowingly and intentionally conspired with David Narine, Susan Narine, Hung Fung Mar and persons unknown to import cocaine. During the same period, Morgan also allegedly imported cocaine into the US. (Nigel Williams / Stabroek News)
March 10, 2007
Wife charged with killing fisherman
Farida Baksh
Baksh was remanded to prison until April 17 when she is to make her next appearance at Leonora Court, West Coast Demerara, to which her case has been transferred.
The victim, a fisherman, was found dead last Tuesday in the Zeelugt house where he lived, with a stab wound on his upper chest and a bloodied knife next to the body. (Guyana Cronicle)
Contractor on fraud charge over deals gone sour
Joel Jukes, of Lot 64 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, Georgetown, appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan on fraud charges yesterday and Defence Counsel said it followed deals gone sour. The defendant, 40, pleaded not guilty to two counts of obtaining money by false pretence.
One charge said he obtained $1.2M from Rosena Persaud, on November 22, 2006, by falsely pretending that he was the transported owner of a plot of land at Lot 35 David Street, Kitty, which he was in a position to sell her.
The other allegation against Jukes is that, on January 29 last, he also took $300,000 from Rajesh Coonjah, by falsely pretending to him that he was the transported owner of land at Lot 59 David Street, Kitty, in the city, too, which he was in a position to sell, as well. However, attorney-at-law Mr. Nigel Anthony, who represented the father of three, said Jukes is a contractor with whom Persaud and Coonjah entered into arrangements that were soured.
Police Corporal Sherwin Matthews, prosecuting, objected to bail for Jukes, on the grounds that cops had difficulties in arresting him and Jukes has other similar cases pending in other courts. The Prosecutor said Jukes also gave Police different names, including Desmond Ashby. As a result, Jukes was remanded to prison until Monday. (Guyana Cronicle)
Man jailed for wounding wife, assaulting cop
Garvin Marshall, 38, of ‘C’ Field, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, was yesterday given two-year prison sentences, to run concurrently, for unlawful wounding and escaping from lawful custody. On another conviction, for assault causing actual bodily harm, he was fined $10,000 with the alternative of a further three months imprisonment and he got three months sentences for assaulting and resisting a Police officer.
All five offences, to which the prisoner pleaded guilty, were committed between February 14 and March 6, Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan was told before pronouncing sentence.
Marshall unlawfully and maliciously wounded his reputed wife, Sharon Ford, on February 14 and, while in custody pending a criminal charge, he escaped and assaulted the woman the same day at the Turkeyen address. The convict also unlawfully assaulted and resisted policeman Colin Primus, who was acting in the execution of his duties, said Police Corporal Sherwin Matthews, prosecuting.
The Prosecutor said Marshall and Ford were arguing when he wounded her and he was being held in detention when he jumped out of a Police vehicle and fled. Marshall was pursued but he launched an assault on Primus, from whom he made his escape and assaulted Ford again the same night, Matthews said.
Marshall told the court he beat Ford because she repeatedly cheated on him and, when he went in search of her and left their child alone in the house, he was jailed for child cruelty. (Guyana Cronicle)
Barber also charged in schoolgirl gang rape
Another man has been charged in connection with the February 8 gang rape of a 14-year-old Berbice schoolgirl. Damien Prince, a barber, of Rose Hall Town, faced the indictable charge yesterday, before Magistrate Chandra Sohan at Albion Court, Corentyne, too. The accused, who is alleged to have had carnal knowledge of the victim, was granted $150,000 bail.
His co-accused, Rajin Macoon called Rajin, a mini-bus conductor and Narayan Zaman alias ‘Bones’ were denied pre-trial freedom last February 12, after Police Inspector Fazil Karimbaksh, prosecuting, said, if they were allowed, the girl’s cane harvester father had planned to cause industrial action within the sugar industry.
In addition, the Prosecutor said other cane harvesters would have wounded the accused and the public interest should be considered. However, at a subsequent appearance, in Albion Court on Tuesday, Macoon and Zaman secured the grant for the same surety as Prince.
Macoon faces three counts of rape allegedly committed on February 5, 6, and 7 while Zaman is charged separately on one count each of rape and buggery on February 8. Police said the girl was taken, in a mini-bus, to Skeldon, then to New Amsterdam and Fyrish, another part of Corentyne, where the men took turns at sexually assaulting her. All the accused have to be back at Albion Court on March 23. (Guyana Cronicle)
March 09, 2007
President slams U.S
Says fed up of `hypocritical lectures’
President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday launched a scathing attack on the United States, accusing it of hypocrisy, of being the biggest drug-consuming country in the world, of having a failed border system, inefficient law enforcement that is better equipped but unable to stop tons of drugs entering the country, and a place where more drugs are sold on the streets than in Guyana.
Declaring, yet again, that he is fed up with the “hypocritical lectures” from the U.S. to developing countries like Guyana, a tough talking President Jagdeo also accused the U.S. of corruption and misappropriation of billions of dollars in funds.
The President’s ire was in direct reference to two reports recently released by the U.S. State Department - the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report and the other dealing with human rights.
Noting that Guyana, even with its “very limited resources”, has been fighting the international problem of battling drug dealers and the drug scourge here, Mr. Jagdeo said the US$20,000 the U.S. is giving this country every year to fight drug traffickers cannot even pay the annual salary of a Permanent Secretary working in Guyana.
“If you look at the assistance we get from the U.S. Government alone for the past seven years, the direct assistance to fight drug trafficking works out to US$20,000 per year; we can’t pay a Permanent Secretary in Guyana that.”
“That is what we get to fight drug dealers, drug traffickers and money laundering as direct assistance from the U.S.,” he lamented during a lengthy address at the opening of the annual Army Officers’ Conference at the Guyana Defence Force Camp Ayanganna base in Georgetown.
President Jagdeo, however, made it clear that he is not “anti-American” and said Guyana actually enjoys a “good relationship” with that country. “We have a good relationship with the U.S. - we get help on HIV/AIDS, we have a substantial market there, we have a lot of our people living there, so we are obligated to have a good relationship with that country.”
“While we have been receiving some assistance in some areas, it is the lectures…” he lamented. “What I find very hypocritical…is that a country issues a report about another country and that report goes around the world…but which is the biggest (drugs) consuming nation in the world?”
“It is the United States of America,” he answered. “All the drugs from Colombia, and from Guyana and from Trinidad and from Suriname and the heroin from Afghanistan go to the United States of America.” “So it means that their border systems are failing (because) they can’t stop the drugs going in there, and they are telling me to stop the big borders that we have where people don’t even live.”
“Tons of drugs are being sold on the streets of the United States of America. So their law enforcement, better equipped than ourselves – they are failing more than our people here because I am sure that we have less drugs sold on our streets than on the streets of the United States,” he contended.
He also pointed out that if people sell the drugs in the U.S., they have to collect money for it. “So which system and which country have the greatest amount of money launderers? It’s the United States of America.”
“They consume the most drugs, their law enforcement at their borders is failing, the drug is sold on the streets, people pay for the drugs and then it is laundered there and then they lecture me and give me US$20,000 (a year to fight drugs),” Mr. Jagdeo declared.
“They want to make us feel bad,” he charged, adding that people will never see the spate of drug dealings in the U.S. in these same reports that condemn other countries. “So this is the reality,” he said.
Alluding to the previous INCSR report by the U.S. State Department, which said the Guyana Government gave suspected drug kingpin, Roger Khan, a forestry concession, President Jagdeo said “this is absolutely untrue”. He said he met the U.S. Ambassador at the time, who revealed that the U.S. got that erroneous information from a local newspaper.
ERROR NOT CORRECTED
President Jagdeo said the U.S. promised to correct that error in this year’s INCSR report but reneged on that commitment. What appeared in the report instead of a correction, he said, was “the controversy” surrounding the granting of a timber licence – which is totally different from (correctly) saying ‘it was not given”, or that “we made an error”.
“Then they said that we promised to pass legislation to screen people who are going to go into the forestry sector. I didn’t promise that. I don’t know who promised that – but I am not passing any such legislation,” the President said. “Do you think if someone goes to invest in the U.S. they will pass legislation to screen the investor?”
President Jagdeo noted that a person who is doing the laundering or the trafficking can be fined but investors cannot be screened. “The U.S. wants us to screen the investors here, something that they don’t do because anyone can walk into the U.S. and invest but we must screen anyone coming here to invest.”
“Of course you have to do due diligence, but I am not going to pass no law that makes us lose competitiveness positions versus the developed world. Why should we do that here in the developing world?” Noting that the human rights report accuses Guyana on the “perception of corruption”, President Jagdeo he can also accuse the U.S. of perceived corruption.
According to Mr. Jagdeo, there are “billions of dollars every year that the U.S. Government cannot give account for”. He also said there are billions of dollars in corruption as it relates to the arms procurement in Iraq.
He also alluded to the fact that in Guyana, there is an audited report that goes to the National Assembly where it is publicly debated on every cent that the government spends. “So to talk about perception of corruption, I can say that the U.S. is perceived as the most corrupt country too because of these things.”
The President reiterated Guyana’s commitment and willingness to fight narco-trafficking but declared that the U.S. has to help more in the battle against this illicit scourge. He stressed that Guyana has always been willing to work closely with the U.S. in the fight but said there should be a commitment from them to reciprocate that willingness to help instead of putting out one-sided reports that do not capture all the facts.
In a similar address two years ago at the GDF Annual Officers’ Conference at Camp Ayanganna, Mr. Jagdeo reported that he wrote U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Roger Noriega, telling him it was time that the U.S. and Guyana have a bilateral agreement through which they can share valuable information on drug-trafficking and money laundering.
President Jagdeo recalled that in December 2003, Mr. Noriega wrote him asking for support for the meeting (at that time) in Mexico on strong language for corruption. “I wrote him back and said we will support this but I think that it is time that the United States and Guyana have a bilateral agreement on sharing information on illegal accounts or accounts held in either of the two countries by anyone – public or private officials - who have gained these proceeds from illegal means, either by money laundering, drug dealing or tax evasion.”
“Until today, I have not had a response for that bilateral agreement,” the President had told the Army conference held on March 9, 2005. “We have requested information in the past but the sloth and the many agencies you have to go through would make it a futile exercise, so I was hoping that (we could) make it a bilateral agreement with a clear mechanism of this transfer of information, but until today I have not received a response.”
LAZY MEDIA
President Jagdeo also did not have kind words for the local media, accusing members of being lazy and not asking the U.S. Ambassador or the U.S. Government the tough questions.
“We have a local media corps that will never ask the U.S. ambassador or someone else in the U.S. Government about the 400 to 500 people that they have in prisons (but who they) have not charged as yet (persons who) don’t have a status.”
He also accused the international media of worse, in terms of gross distortions and trying to portray a certain image aimed at “enslaving the minds” of persons from the developing world. “Often from the media reports, if you look at the international world and form your opinion of Africa for instance, all you will hear about Africa is famine, drought, genocide and tribal wars, et cetera, almost every single day.”
President Jagdeo said this is not the picture he got of Africa when he visited that continent. “I have gone to Africa and Africa is a wonderful place. There are many, many positive things but they (international media) never focus on that and I feel, frankly speaking, that this is part of the bond - colonialism ended but it is a new kind of enslavement.”
“(They) enslave us through our minds so that we form the opinions about ourselves from their sources of information and not from our sources of information and then we start feeling bad about ourselves and then we start thinking that we don’t have the solutions to anything and we have to look to the developed world for the solutions,” the Guyanese Head of State reasoned.
“I think fundamentally, and I have been arguing this at several of the fora that I have gone to, is that we need to have international media sources that are more balanced.”
He further accused organizations such as Transparency International and others involved in gathering information and writing negative reports, of trying to “make this place (the U.S.) the paragon of virtue in terms of human rights”. “Unless these places live up to international norms, they do not have any right to comment on us here because I feel we have an infinitely better human rights situation here (than in the U.S.).”
“We do not profile people here because of how they look and pull them off planes…or profile people of a particular ethnic race.”
President Jagdeo also lashed out at some sections of the private sector for “bad mouthing Guyana” to these agencies gathering information just because they did not get certain concessions.
“In this country, whichever private sector you talk to you get a different view. You have an old private sector that all they want from me is concessions and if I don’t give them the concessions then whole day they will cuss me - that Jagdeo doesn’t know what he is doing…well, they are not going to get it.”
“This country is committed to opening up and I would help the new emerging private sector and not the fossils who grew up in the past and want to live off of government patronage,” he lambasted, adding that “they always bad mouth the country”. (Mark Ramotar / Guyana Cronicle)
Bel Air couple arms trial
Razac said pistol was for any attack by 'Fineman' Inspector testifies that US$314,000 found under bathroom tiles
A police inspector testifying in the trial of Swiss House boss, Farouk Razac and his beauty queen wife said that during the raid at the businessman's house, Razac said that he was keeping the weapon that was found to combat wanted man Rondell 'Fineman' Rawlins if he should attack. Rawlins is one of the notorious wanted men on the run.
Razac and Carolan Lynch are on trial for unlawfully having in their possession four 9 mm magazines, one Beretta automatic pistol and 120 rounds of 9 mm ammunition at their Ireng Place, Bel Air home on November 10 last year.
The trial began yesterday before Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court. Police prosecutor Robert Tyndall first called Inspector of Police Dexter Thornton who testified to finding a Beretta pistol along with ammunition and large amounts of US currency in bags under the tiles in the couple's bathroom.
Thornton stated that after receiving certain information he headed a party of policemen on November 10 at 6.45 am and went to the home of Razac and Lynch. He stated that he discovered the items in Razac's bathroom, told him of the offence committed and cautioned him. The Swiss House boss then told him "I can deal with you, is 'Fineman' Rawlins I keeping this fuh when he attack me."
He stated that at this point he stopped Razac from saying anything further and asked him if he wished to put into writing what he had just said but Razac refused. He added that he or no one in his presence made use of any threats to Razac when he made the remarks.
Relating how the weapon was found, Thornton said he and Sergeant 15467 Anthony, accompanied by Razac, went to the north western bathroom situated in the couple's bottom flat where he observed a 6 ft bathtub which was 2½ ft from the floor. The tub, he said, was located north to south. He looked at the tub and saw similar coloured tiles, some of which appeared loose, on the southern side of the tub towards the wall.
He said he also observed that the tiles had no thin set cement between the grooves. He then asked the Sergeant to assist him with a knife and Lynch handed it to him. He used the knife to lift the tiles and he saw a black and brown haversack in a space measuring approximately 1 ft between the bath tub and the southern wall. Within that space Thornton told the court, about a depth of 2 ˝ feet from the floor level he also saw two small gift bags containing a quantity of US currency.
He then opened the haversack in the presence of Razac and he saw a Beretta pistol fitted with a 9 mm magazine along with three other magazines containing 9 mm ammunition. He then removed the magazine from the Beretta pistol for safety reasons and he further observed that the magazine contained 9 mm ammunition.
He also removed the ammunition from each magazine and found that each of the magazines contained thirty 9 mm ammunition making the total 120 rounds. He said that he also told Razac that he suspected that the two bags containing US currency were the proceeds from the sale of narcotics. Thereafter he cautioned him again and he remained silent.
He then took possession of the weapon, ammunition and US currency and he along with Razac exited the bathroom. He met Lynch in the kitchen and he told her that she along with Razac had the items found in their possession. She, he said, remained silent. They were then arrested and escorted to the narcotics branch of CID Headquarters.
At the narcotics branch the ammunition was counted and the weapon and ammunition were parcelled off separately and sealed with a police seal in the presence of both defendants. The US currency when counted amounted to US$314,117.
He then lodged the envelope containing the currency with the officer in charge of the finance department for safe keeping. The weapon and ammunition were lodged with the officer in charge of the Tactical Services Unit. On November 11 he took the weapon and ammunition to the police ballistics department and handed it over to another Sergeant.
Thornton was continuing with his testimony when he was interrupted by defence counsel Nigel Hughes who stated that they had no statements for this part of the evidence being given. The prosecutor also said he had no additional statement. Tyndall then made an application for leave to file additional statements. Hughes did not object but said that the preparations could have been more thorough.
Earlier in his testimony Thornton had stated that when he arrived at the couple's home he called out to Razac who subsequently came to him. Thornton said he introduced himself and the party of policemen and told Razac that he was in receipt of information that he had firearms and ammunition in his possession, house or outhouse and he then cautioned him.
He said that Razac replied "I don't have any guns." He then told Razac that he wanted to search his home, outhouse and person and Razac invited him, Sergeant Anthony and two other ranks into the house. He went into the home and saw Lynch in the kitchen and they proceeded to the upper flat where in Razac's master bedroom he observed a closed circuit television monitor that was on and when he looked on the screen he saw the police ranks in and outside the couple's yard.
He then searched the upper flat but found nothing of evidential value. They then proceeded to the lower flat and that's when they reportedly found the weapon, ammunition and currency in the bathroom. Additional statements have to be filed as it relates to the witness and the case continues today.
The Swiss House Cambio boss and Lynch who is the reigning Mrs South America were arrested after police conducted raids on their home. When Razac first appeared in court he was granted $1 million bail while his wife who appeared a day after him was first refused bail but subsequently placed on $500,000 bail in the High Court. The charges were first read indictably but were later taken summarily. (Stabroek News)
March 08, 2007
Escapee suspected of murder still on the run
Indar Gajadar
Essequibo police are still on high alert as they try to recapture a prison escapee who is now suspected of murder. And according to Prisons Director Dale Erskine, the man's escape was not publicized since it was not normal procedure for all escapes from that prison to be advertised since in most cases the men would be recaptured shortly after.
"But when we feel that they could pose a threat then we publicize" Erskine told Stabroek News in a comment yesterday.
Ronald Daniels escaped from the Mazaruni institution since December last year and it was only when a report on his flight and escapades appeared in the January 21 Sunday Stabroek that the public knew he was on the run. His photo which appears on this page and on page 1 had not been released prior to yesterday.
While the man, who is originally from Bethany village in Essequibo, has been able to evade police capture, residents of his community had reported seeing the man in the village several times.
Ronald Daniels
Asked why it had been so hard for the local authorities to capture Daniels, Erskine said the man was very familiar with his environment and this has made the task for the officers much more difficult.
An Essequibo man, Indar Gajadar, the owner of a logging concession was shot dead on February 28 and though police in Essequibo have not named the escapee as a suspect Commander of that division, Gavin Primo, has said that the description of the suspect fits that of the escaped prisoner.
The police also arrested five other men and searched a number of homes in the area. According to reports reaching this newspaper Gajadar and one of his workers were cutting logs in the sandpit backlands when a man with a shotgun approached them.
At that time Gajadar was allegedly told by the man to hand over his chainsaw and he refused and the man pointed the gun to Gajadar's right rib cage and pulled the trigger and then left the scene.
Primo had said earlier that they had received reports that Daniels is usually sheltered by persons in the Bethany community. Asked whether there had been any recent sighting of the prisoner prior to the shooting incident, Primo said no, but acknowledged that they had received reports of Daniels terrorizing persons working in the backlands. (Heppilena Ferguson/Stabroek News)
March 07, 2007
Itemiser to help in terrorism, anti-narcotics fight
Security booster: GRA Commissioner-General, Mr. Khurshid Sattaur receives the Itemiser 111 from Mr. Balbir Singh of the Canadian Border Service Agency.
The Canadian Government yesterday presented a digital device to the Guyana Government which officials expect will boost the fight against narcotics trafficking.
The GRA said the Canadian Government, through the expertise of Balbir Singh and Camille Giangi, two officers within the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA), is also facilitating a one–week training course in the use of the Itemiser. The session, it said, started yesterday in the Customs and Trade Administration Training Room on Main Street, Georgetown.
Sattaur thanked the Canadian High Commission and the government of Canada for the equipment and for providing invaluable training in the use and care of the equipment, which he said will assist efforts to improve border security. This, he said, will help the Customs and Trade Administration significantly in executing its enforcement duties.
The GRA said he urged the participants to make full use of the training and to pass on their skills to their colleagues. The authority reported that Nedd also welcomed the initiative and invited more such steps and donations.
According to the GRA, Assistant Police Commissioner K. Lakeraj noted that terrorism and narco-trafficking are great challenges across the world and law enforcement agencies have to network better to counter and suppress these global challenges to world peace and stability.
“The narco-trade is alive here in Guyana and this Itemiser will assist greatly in the narco-fight,” he said at the opening of the training ceremony. In this regard, he said it is important that other enforcement agencies, such as CANU and the Customs Department, join in expanding the network and fighting narco-trafficking.
The GRA said Lakeraj noted that with Guyana being marketed globally and modernizing its facilities, the machine will also assist in detecting terrorism devices. “We must see this manifestation as a support measure in the fight against organized crime, drugs and guns, because these are all inter-related,” he said. He commended the effort and said the Guyana Police Force (GPF) now feels more supported by the GRA in this area.
The GRA said Singh of the CBSA pointed out that this initiative is part of a long-term relationship between the governments of Guyana and Canada which will develop over the coming years and is important for sharing intelligence and knowledge.
He said this type of training is critical to Guyana in detecting various narcotic substances, ammunition and explosive material, especially as the country is about to host Cricket World Cup matches. The training targets officers from the Customs & Trade Administration, CANU and the GPF and will involve classroom exercises as well as practical sessions to be conducted mainly at the airport. (Guyana Cronicle)
Teen shot in Berbice robbery rampage
A group of seven heavily armed bandits, in a 20-minute rampage Monday night, wreaked havoc at Lesbeholden, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, breaking into the homes of about four families, and robbing them of cash and jewellery in separate attacks, police said.
The victims were businesswoman Kamini Ramnarine, robbed of an undisclosed sum of cash and jewellery; rice farmer Khemraj Seeram, robbed of jewellery and $50,000 cash; housewife Lalita Kirpau, robbed of jewellery and $25,000 cash; and rice farmer Ishwar Denaram, robbed of jewellery and $20,000 cash.
Police said that during the raids, the bandits fired several rounds to ward off members of the community. Dhanraj Bisraj, 17, who was in the area when the robberies took place, was shot in the right buttock. Police said he was up to late yesterday in a stable condition at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
At the scene, police said they found eight 7.62 x 39; three 270; one NK 1976; one 5.39; one .32 spent shells; and one 12 gauge spent cartridge. They also found a 7.62 x 39; one 270; one NK 1976 and one .32 live rounds.
Police said an offensive has been launched in the district and a special team dispatched to Berbice, comprising Tactical Services Unit and Criminal Investigation Department ranks, to deal with the situation. (Guyana Cronicle)
Cop accused of shooting barber charged with murder
Clifton Garraway
A policeman accused of shooting a barber four times a week ago outside a nightspot was yesterday charged with murder and refused bail at the Georgetown Magistrate's Court.
Well-dressed and with sunshades on, the policeman made his way to court yesterday escorted to the lockups by police officers. On his left arm was a bandage across his elbow.
Clement Bailey, 26, who is also said to be the driver of the Home Affairs Minister, was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder before Acting Chief Magistrate Cecil Sullivan.
It is alleged that on February 26 at Georgetown, Bailey murdered Clifton Garraway, a barber attached to the Gee Qu barber shop. According to reports, Garraway, a 26-year-old East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme resident, was outside of a Garnett Street nightspot when he was shot and killed.
He allegedly bumped into a female friend of the policeman. The woman reportedly went and called the officer who shot Garraway four times and he died before reaching the hospital.
Clement Bailey
Bailey was represented yesterday by attorney-at-law Euclin Gomes in association with Anil Nandlall and Camilla Edwards. Nandlall was not present in court. Attorneys-at-law Nigel Anthony and Lawrence Harris were present, watching over the interest of the relatives of Garraway.
Gomes told the court yesterday that there are some security concerns that they will be raising with the Director of Public Prosecu-tions (DPP) about his client. He then asked for an early date.
After the charge was read to Bailey he was escorted down the court steps by police officers. This is not the normal procedure for persons on remand who usually pass through the chute. His case was transferred to Court Three for March 12. (Stabroek News)
March 06, 2007
One still missing from trawler tragedy
Dead: Crew member Peter Duncan
But while his relatives are hoping in earnest for his survival, they claimed that a visit to his employers at New Hope, East Bank Demerara, yesterday left them devastated.
His sister Anita Fernandes said management claimed that they made a trip out in the Atlantic and found no trace of their trawler or the missing man.
Peter Duncan’s wife and daughters trying to come to grips with the news of his death
As such, she said, they were advised there is nothing more that can be done and the search has been called off.
However, Fernandes’ relatives said they would not be giving up on their loved one that easily.The only crew member confirmed dead to date is Peter Duncan, also called “Footie”, of 80, St Stephens Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, a father of two infant daughters.
Three men have so far been lucky to return home, where they related the harrowing experience of being tossed back and forth, amidst howling waves in the cold and choppy Atlantic waters for more than 24 hours, with an occasional fish pen as their only fortress in their desperate bid for survival.
Survived: Captain Rasheed Huassain recounting his ordeal at sea
The three survivors are captain of the trawler, Rasheed Hussain, 36, of Craig; Vitendra Monahar of 486 Fourth Street, Grove, and Malcolm Welcome, 32, also called “Malo”, or Lot 15 New Hope, all on the East Bank Demerara.
Yesterday, Hussain, who was rescued by a pilot boat Saturday afternoon, and Monahar, who was washed ashore at Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara Saturday night, accompanied staff of the fishing company on another trawler out into the Atlantic but found no trace of the missing Fernandes or the “William II”.
Both men were weak and hardly able to walk. The said they were not taken to be examined by a doctor but when called upon by management to go in search of the sunken trawler and their missing colleague, they readily agreed.
Great reunion: Crew member Vitendra Manohar, his wife and two sons at their home yesterday
Hussain feels that if the Coast Guard had been in a state of preparedness to respond to the call for help, everyone might have been recovered alive.
He said he was rescued by the pilot boat around 15:00h Saturday. That boat, he said, immediately called the Light House which in turn called the Coast Guard, requesting that help be sent. Unfortunately, he said he was advised that the request could not have been met.
Hussain is also dissatisfied that the management of the trawler company, Quality Seafoods, did not send a smaller boat to look for the missing crew member. He said a vessel as huge as the trawler they sent, could only have done a search for another trawler, and not someone who might have possibly drifted closer to the sea coast.
Duncan’s wife Linda Joaquin and his mother Joylyn Duncan yesterday said they have been trying in vain to reach the director of the company or his agents. Duncan’s mother said their stress is rapidly building since the funeral home indicated the least it would cost for the burial would be $75,000. “We don’t have that, we are poor people,” she said, adding that they feel that since the young man died while on the job, his employers should be at least be responsible for his burial.
The couple, who did not have a home of their own, were being temporarily sheltered at a relative. The dead man’s unemployed spouse who is now left with the responsibility for caring for their seven and four-year old daughters is at her wits end to determine just what would be done with her husband’s body following the post mortem tomorrow. Attempts to reach the company director for comment were unsuccessful. (Shirley Thomas/Guyana Cronicle)
Security concerns among reasons
Roger Khan placed in special facility
Prison lawyer was disciplined over chewing gum
The US Government has challenged the motion by Guyanese drug accused Shaheed 'Roger' Khan to be removed from a 'special housing' facility, on the grounds that his confinement is based on non-punitive, administrative and security concerns that are best evaluated by the prison administrators.
Khan was taken to the Metropolitan Correction Centre (MCC) on January 23 and placed in the Special Housing Unit (SHU) of the facility two days later. His lawyer Roberts Simels had complained, among other things that SHU is for persons who are suspected of terrorist activities.
Khan was slapped with an 18-count indictment on February 23, alleging that between January 2001 and June 2006, he occupied the position of principal administrator, organiser and leader of a continuing criminal enterprise from which he obtained substantial income and resources.
The violations include various counts of distribution, importation, possession and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Should he be convicted of heading a criminal enterprise, Khan faces a mandatory life sentence. Responding to Simels' motion, lawyer for the MCC, Elisa Mason, said the motion should also be denied because Khan's due process rights have not been violated and he has access to his counsel and the court.
According to Mason in court documents filed yesterday and seen by this newspaper, on February 17, Khan received a disciplinary incident report for possessing, "an unauthorized item and lying." She said Khan was observed with chewing gum, which is an unauthorized item in MCC, in his mouth. Khan initially lied about having anything in his mouth but after being questioned, he admitted that he had the gum in his mouth and that it was given to him by his lawyer.
"While chewing gum may seem innocuous in a non-correctional setting, it poses security concerns in a penal institution. Chewing gum can be used to make imprints of keys and to jam locks," Mason said. A Disciplinary Committee hearing was conducted on February 20 and Khan was sanctioned.
Mason said while Khan's case manger reported that he has orally complained about the issues in SHU he never requested formal grievance forms which the manager has at all times and regularly distributes upon inmates' requests. Khan has since been supplied with the forms.
Mason noted that in Khan's motion, filed by his lawyer, he "ambiguously states that he has 'filed grievances every day of his confinement.'" She said he did not specify which forms he had requested; to whom he returned the forms or the content of the grievances. "The assertion that he has field grievances is contradicted by his unit manger…,"
Meanwhile, the unit manager, Hector Suarez, in an affidavit to support Mason's response said he had spoken to Khan on numerous occasions and although Khan had made two requests for staff forms regarding housing issues, none of the forms presented grievances about his placement in SHU.
Mason said oral complaints do not suffice to start the grievance process, be-cause they circumvent the Administrative Remedy Programme and leave the agency, and the court without a record. She said the programme has reasonable time frames and is easy to understand and had the defendant promptly availed himself to the programme his grievance would have been under review.
Security concerns
Additionally, Mason said, Khan has made no showing that to exhaust administrative remedies would be futile as proper exhaustion would have permitted him to fully articulate his complaint, and it would have permitted the authorities to appropriately response and correct any errors that may exist without requiring judicial intervention. Mason said the case involved an administrative decision made by correctional professionals who have invoked their professional discretion established by a long-standing policy.
It was stated that in this case the government has a legitimate interest in maintaining the orderly and secure operation of the MCC and in protecting staff, inmates and the public. The attorney said the staff were made aware of security concerns by the United States District Attorney's Office and that information was taken into consideration in conjunction with other factors, namely, the defendant's specific offence, which potentially carries a life sentence.
Mason said Khan was not placed in SHU solely on the nature of the charges but because of security concerns, as the warden received information, which based on his professional judgement, led to the conclusion that a more secure environment was warranted. The document did not specify what the information was. Mason said the warden does not have to wait until an emergency develops to implement a measure calculated to maintain institutional safety and security.
She said Khan received an order explaining to him that he was placed in administrative detention pending an intelligence review owing to security concerns and as such his assertion that he has not received an explanation for his placement in SHU, "is without merit." "While the government recognises that the defendant may not be satisfied with the reason, he was provided a reason," Mason said.
Access
Mason referred to Khan's lawyer presenting issues regarding his access to telephone calls, as well as the fact that the defendant was handcuffed as he was led to the attorney visit. She said presumably, through those statements, Khan is claiming that his access to legal counsel has been limited but he does not explain how visiting a client in SHU prevents access to legal counsel. "There has been no restriction placed on the length or number of legal visits permitted in SHU. Defence counsel may visit the defendant seven days a week from 8 am to 8 pm."
In addition, she said there is no constitutional violation if there is a limit on unmonitored legal calls or limited access to legal telephone calls, as long as inmates can communicate with their counsel in writing or in person by visits. It was pointed out that Khan has access to counsel through unlimited legal correspondence, daily legal visits and occasional unmonitored legal telephone calls.
"The restrictions imposed on the defendant do not impermissibly infringe on his right to counsel or access to the courts. [The] defendant has several means of access to the courts. Neither his right to access to the courts, nor his ability to receive adequate legal counsel, has been impermissibly impeded." On those arguments, Mason asked that Khan's motion to be released from SHU be denied.
Khan along with ex-policeman Sean Belfield, Paul Rodrigues and Lloyd Roberts had fled Guyana for neighbouring Suriname after raids began over the missing Army AK-47 rifles. The Joint Services had conducted a number of raids on Khan's properties in search of him and given the indictment that was unsealed later, the Guyanese in an attempt to dodge local lawmen ran to Suriname.
However, he was caught along with his three bodyguards during a huge drug bust in Paramaribo in June last year and was subsequently released for deportation to Guyana. On the way, he was seized in Trinidad and flown to New York via Miami.
Khan had issued a statement through his lawyers following his indictment saying that his charge was motivated by political considerations. He accused the US Govern-ment, the Guyana Police Force, the Guyana Defence Force and the main opposition PNCR of being complicit in silencing him. He also said that the USA, PNCR, GDF and GPF viewed him as someone who had the will and capacity to fight crime and to protect the people of Guyana against a coup d'Ătat.
In that statement he also mentioned that during the crime spree in 2002, he worked closely with the crime-fighting section of the police force and provided them with assistance and information at his own expense. He said his participation was instrumental in curbing crime during that period. During the period Khan referred to, several death squads or 'phantom squads' emerged and some of the escapees of the February 23, 2002 jailbreak were gunned down in murky circumstances. (Stabroek News)
March 05, 2007
Capsized boat
One dead, one missing, three rescued
Rudy Fernandes
One fisherman is dead and another missing after their boat capsized in the Atlantic Ocean about three miles from land on Friday night. Terrifying stories were told by those who were rescued, some of whom vowed never to return to sea following their ordeal.
Dead is Junior Duncan called 'Foots,' 25, a father of two of Lot 80, St Stephens Street, Charlestown, and missing is 32-year-old Rudy Fernandes of 246, Grove Squatting Area, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Rescued were the captain of the boat Rasheed Hussain called 'Baby' of Craig, EBD, Vitendra Manhor, 36 of 486 Fourth Street, Grove, EBD and Malcolm Welcome, 36, of Lot 15, New Hope, EBD. The five men were crew members of the William II owned by Guyana Quality Seafood Ltd, New Hope, EBD.
Malcolm Welcome
Duncan's reputed wife, Linda Joaquin, said that the captain reported to her that he was swimming with the man when he went under. His body was recovered yesterday.
Fernandes's sister, Anita Fernandes, said that on Saturday evening they received a call informing them that one of the boats owned by the company had sunk. She said they immediately made contact with the relatives of the boat owner who told them that no boat had gone under.
However, their relief was short lived as at around 11 pm it was confirmed that the boat her brother was on had indeed gone down and that he was one of the men missing.
She said that yesterday morning they went to the captain's house and it was again confirmed. The grieving woman said that her brother had been working at sea for a number of years as it was the only work he knew. She claimed that he was owed in excess of $200,000.
Hussain told Stabroek News yesterday that it was about 11 pm on Friday night, nine days after they had left their homes, that the trawler encountered problems and started listing. He said they were in the process of pulling up a net when the boat capsized tossing them into the water.
The captain said they ended up holding onto the bottom of the boat since it was upside down, and he told his crew members not to try to swim but rather allow the water to sweep them in to land because they would become tired if they attempted to swim. He said soon they were all washed off the hull of the boat by some huge waves.
He related that he lost sight of the other crew members, and he allowed his body to move with the water. It was about 7 am on Saturday morning that he managed to get hold of a fish pen in the ocean. Hussain said by this time he was tired and weak, and the constant swallowing of salt water caused diarrhoea, weakening his system even more. He was naked, he said, as he had long since got rid of his clothes because they would have weighed him down.
He held on to the post for some time until the tide changed, and he once again began to float, this time with the intention of reaching the Demerara River channel and clinging to a buoy which was located in that area. He had been on the verge of giving up as the buoy was nowhere in sight, but just as that thought ran through his head he caught sight of a boat and, "barely raise me hand and dem come and rescue me."
He then contacted the owner of the vessel as well as some relatives of the four men, whom he had feared were dead. Hussain, who has vowed not to return to sea, said it was the first time he had captained that particular boat as his usual vessel was under repair. His skin bears bruises and cuts from the hours he spent in the water.
But while Hussain was rescued on Saturday afternoon, Manhor had to endure the sea for several hours more, and did not make it to land until about 1 am yesterday morning. His ordeal did not end there, as owing to his weakened state he was forced to crawl on his hands and knees to seek help. While a woman pitied him, some men in the Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara community chased him without offering any assistance.
Lying on a chair in his home yesterday afternoon, Manhor, who said he found it difficult to sit up, recalled that after they had been swept into the water, he, Fernandes and Welcome found each other when the three of them sought refuge on top of a fish pen in the ocean. He estimated that around 11.30 am on Saturday morning the tide changed, and he and Fernandes decided to float again in an attempt to reach land. He said Welcome had injured a hand and he decided to remain on top of the pen while they promised to send a boat for him once they found help.
According to Manhor, he and Fernandes called out to each other while they floated. However, after a time he got no response, and found himself continuing his journey alone. Monhor said that his hand became very weak and he thought he would not have made it. The water carried him as far as Parika and when the tide changed course he was swept down back to Cornelia Ida; it was there he held onto a fish pen around 8.30 pm on Saturday night.
He said that his legs by this time were suffering cramps and were of no use to him, but he decided that he would swim to land because he felt it was near. He related how he started to swim but then felt himself going down. However, when he did so he could feel mud and this rejuvenated him because he realized he was close to land and he began to swim in earnest.
The fisherman said when he landed he had to crawl on his hands and knees because he could not use his feet and he reached a house after crossing the seawall. He said that a woman and her son were at home and she was afraid to open the door, but she saw the condition he was in, that he was shivering and his skin was white, and so she gave him a sheet. He then sat down against the woman's fence. That was about 1 am yesterday morning. He said the woman advised him to go to a shop in the area and inform the men who were drinking there about his plight.
"I try and reach the shop but dem people chase me. I tell dem wah happen to me but dem tell me dem ent want hear nothing and to move away. I ent know if it is because how I look but me ent do nothing and I went back to the woman and I tell she how dem chase me. I ask she if she could give me some tea but she say she ent have nothing to mek tea. I ask she to just hot some water and put some sugar and give me," Manhor said.
He said he told the woman he intended to rest against her fence and sleep but she then sent her son to open the door and told him to use the hammock to sleep in. "She give the tea and some rice with salt as she said she didn't have nothing else, and I eat it and sleep." Yesterday morning early the woman went to a neighbour who called the man's relatives who then came to get him.
"I am grateful to that woman; she treat me good and she would be like family to me now because I woulda dead if she didn't help me." Manhor said that he had no intention of returning to sea even though this was his first such experience. He has been working at sea for many years, but he would search for another job in order to maintain his wife and two children.
And while Stabroek News was unable to speak to Welcome, his reputed wife and mother of his two children Merisa Haywood said he was fine. Stabroek News was at the woman's house when she received news that her husband had been found alive. She recalled that it was on Saturday afternoon she heard that he was missing, and yesterday afternoon when contacted by phone Haywood said her husband was home but was very weak and was finding it difficult to move. He had been rescued by the owner of the boat while clinging to the top of the fish pen where Manhor and Fernandes had left him.
She said her husband, who had been working as a seaman for only eight months, had said he would no longer be working with that company. The woman was very critical of the treatment she had received from her husband's workplace. She said that she and other relatives had gone to the location and had only been able to see the security guard.
The guard told them that management was in a meeting and that he had no news for them. She said after standing for several hours they had been forced to leave after nightfall. They had later made a report to the Ruimveldt Police Station where the captain's wife learnt that he had survived.
Meanwhile, Hussain and other fishermen, who did not want to be named, were critical of the conditions under which they work. While Hussain has been working for that particular company for only eight months, he has worked with other companies all of which take the safety of their employees lightly.
He said the vessels have no life jackets or life boats, items that are critical to the safety of the crew should they encount-er difficulties. Hussain said a few years ago a boat he was in caught fire and they had to abandon it as there were no fire extinguishers on board to put out the flames.
"Dem is dah kinda thing wah we fishermen does go through. I would like the Ministry of Fisheries workers to visit all dem boat that does go out to sea and see how unsafe all a dem is," the man said. Other fishermen who were present while Hussain was speaking confirmed his complaints while pointing out that if any of them objected they would be fired.
"You can't talk fuh you rights because dem does fire you. If forty captains come together and say dem ent working because of the conditions, eighty more would line up to work. We can't come together and do anything because people have dem family to look after and dem go only think about dat," one fisherman said.
They pointed out that there is no National Insurance Scheme (NIS) payment for employees and they are not given fixed salaries. Hussain also said that Guyana Seafood had a policy of making captains sign contracts making them responsible for any injury to themselves or the crew members.
Stabroek News attempted to speak to the owner of the boat Hussain and his crew had been on, but calls to the company went unanswered and a visit to their location produced the response that the owner was out looking for his boat. (Stabroek News / Oluatoyin Alleyne)
March 02, 2007
Fire guts Rose Hall business places
The fire in the furniture factory
Fire Wednesday night destroyed a furniture factory, two other business places and another building at Rose Hall Town, Berbice, leaving losses estimated at $200M and prompting renewed calls from residents for a fire station in the town.
Witnesses said the fire broke out at about 23:00h aback the furniture factory, moved in a circular manner to Dharry’s Echo which housed a religious store, and then to the furniture store before spreading to a nearby building owned by the Ragunandans.
Dan McBean, a resident of Williamsburg next to Rose Hall, said after dialling 911 to alert the fire service, he rushed to the scene on the main thoroughfare a few metres away and saw that one of the buildings was partially engulfed in flames. He said the flames were fanned by high winds and spread quickly to the nearby building which once housed a grocery and hardware store.
DAN MCBEAN
McBean said fire tenders from the Albion sugar estate and New Amsterdam arrived simultaneously about an hour after the fire was first seen, and were delayed from operating because of the unavailability of water. No hydrants, he said, are in the town and water had to be accessed and pumped from a canal 400 meters from the scene.
McBean said that because of the distance from which fire fighters had to get water, there was insufficient pressure to put out the fire which by then had engulfed the buildings. The fire fighters then concentred on saving houses behind the buildings on fire, he said. The heat from the blaze caused minor damage to the nearby Republic Bank and one of its glass doors was partially shattered.
Owner of the furniture factory and the two stores, Mr. Dharry, was too distraught to speak to reporters but estimated the losses at more than $200M. Persons who rushed to the scene said the businessman had to be pulled out of the upper flat of the Dharry’s Echo store which he used as a residence.
While most of the items were destroyed in Dharry’s Echo, several ‘Murtis’ of the Hindu Deities were still standing yesterday morning in what was once the showcase of the store. (Guyana Cronicle)
U.S. urges Guyana to beef up money laundering laws
The U.S. State Department is recommending that the Government of Guyana introduce Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)-drafted money laundering legislation as early as possible in the current legislative session.
According to the 2007 International Narcotics Strategy Control Report (INSCR), the country’s current money-laundering regime is ineffective and implementing regulations of current legislation ineffective.
While reiterating that Guyana is neither an important regional or offshore financial centre, the report also repeated the claim, first made last year, that money laundering underscored an informal economy that was 60 to 50 per cent of the formal economy. The report credited the fact that there were no arrests or prosecutions for money laundering during 2006 to a lack of adequate legislation and resources.
“In order to improve the GoG’s anti-money laundering regime,” the report states, “the FIU has prepared drafts of legislation criminalizing the financing of terrorism and expanding the scope of the money laundering offence. The new legislation is also expected to provide for oversight of export industries, the insurance industry, real estate and alternative remittance systems. The draft money laundering act failed to make the legislative agenda before the dissolution of Parliament in May 2006.”
According to a Guyana Chronicle report published on September 28 of last year, President Bharrat Jagdeo had stated that Financial Intelligence Unit was, along with some other external agencies, tasked with producing draft legislation to replace the Money Laundering (Prevention) Act of 2002.
The new legislation was expected to incorporate the 40 recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering along with an additional nine recommendations in relation to terrorist financing.
A final draft of the legislation was completed but because it was only handed over about two weeks before Parliament was dissolved, the legislation could not have been passed, the President had explained.
The report is also recommending that the FIU be given greater autonomy. The unit was established in 2003 within the Ministry of Finance and receives its funding through the ministry. It noted that FIU was a “one-person organization” severely limited in its access to local law enforcement data and contact with similar organisations overseas.
“The GOG should,” stated the report, “provide greater autonomy for the FIU by making it an independent unit with its own budget and office space, enable the FIU to access law enforcement data, and ensure that the FIU has the operational capacity to meet the membership requirements of the Egmont Group and other international standards.”
Though covering events of 2006 primarily, the 2007 INSCR also touched on the Gambling Prevention (Amendment) Bill, passed in January of this year.
Noting the controversy surrounding the legislation, particularly claims of the potential for money laundering provided by legalized casino gambling, the report urged the government to “ensure that the necessary anti-money laundering regulations are extended to the gaming sector.” (Guyana Cronicle)
March 01, 2007
Gunmen terrorise Canje family
Flee with cash and jewellery
Vijay Chung, holding baby Dylan, shows the door that the bandits broke to gain entry to the house.
Four heavily armed and masked bandits yesterday broke into a Canje home and robbed a family of an undisclosed amount of cash and jewellery.
Vijay Chung, 33, of Betsy Ground, who was traumatised by the 30-minute ordeal and hardly wanted to recall the incident, said at about 3 am she was awakened by a loud thud on their zinc shed.
The woman said she then heard the back door near to her bedroom being pushed loudly and, upon hearing the noise, her husband, Leslie Chung, 37, left the bedroom to investigate and came face to face with the bandits. The woman told Stabroek News (SN) that the men were all armed with guns and had entered the house by removing two louvre window panes and pushing open a wooden and grill door.
Vijay said they grabbed Leslie and put him to lie on the floor while demanding money and gold jewellery. Vijay said they then entered the bedroom where she was holding her ten-month-old son Dylan. The baby started to scream and this angered the bandits, she said, and they shouted that she should stop the baby from crying.
The woman said she does not like to use gold jewellery and as such did not have much to give the bandits. She said they stripped her of the wedding band and diamond ring that she had hardly removed since she got married 16 years ago and also ripped off a gold chain her husband was wearing.
Vijay said the bandits then proceeded to ransack the drawers while cursing and demanding more money and jewellery. She said they then barged into the bedroom of her daughters, 12-year-old Zoya, and five-year-old Chelsea, as Zoya was coming out of the bedroom and they pointed a gun at her and ordered her to "go back inside." The men then ransacked the drawers in the girls' room.
The woman said they gun-butted both her and her husband while demanding more money and jewellery. The bandits also stole items including DVD players and about 30 cartons of cigarettes from the family's shop. Vijay said the money that they took was set aside to pay business persons who she had taken stock from on credit.
The distressed woman said "The bandits just come and take away everything we worked so hard for just to give our children a good education." She said they now have to start all over again to get money to pay their debts. (Shabna Ullah/Stabroek News)
Logger shot dead in Essequibo backlands
Prison escapee suspected
Indar Gajadar
An Essequibo man was shot dead on Tuesday night, reportedly by a Mazaruni Prison escapee who has managed to run rings around police and prison officers since December last year. Dead is 38-year-old Indar Gajadar also known as 'Son' of Zorg Market Dam, Essequibo Coast, and the owner of a logging concession.
While Commander of 'G' Division, Gavin Primo has not named the escapee as the killer, he told Stabroek News last evening that the description of the suspect fits that of escaped prisoner Ronald Daniels called 'Black Boy'. Police have since arrested five other men and searched a number of homes in the area.
"We are continuing our search for this prisoner. We had ranks checking for two days for him, but he is not staying one place all the time... he is moving around and persons are assisting him," Primo told Stabroek News last night.
Basmattie Gadajar, the dead man's sister, told Stabroek News that her brother left for the Backdam on Monday last and according to her he had intended to return home four days after. She said she and other family members were at home around 7 am yesterday, when they received the news of her brother's death.
She said her brother had often complained about a man who had been stealing from the workers in the backdam and he had also reported the matter to the police station. She recounted too that her brother had said that the man stole foodstuff and valuables from the workers and was always able to make good his escape.
The woman said too that her brother did not own a gun but whenever he made reports to the police they would tell him to 'shoot the man' and never acted on his reports. The dead man's sister told this newspaper that one of her brother's workers said that they were cutting logs in the backdam when a man with a shotgun approached them.
"He said the man told my brother to hand over his chainsaw, but since the saw was only three months into use, he apparently refused to cooperate," she said. She said her brother's worker said other workers also watched as the "thief man" pointed his gun to the side of Gajadar's right rib cage area and pulled the trigger. The man said as soon as Gajadar fell to the ground, they started running for help.
According to the man, it was not until around 7 am yesterday that they were able to get to the public road since they were moving on foot and were about twenty miles up the sand pit backlands. Basmati told Stabroek News that according to the worker, when the police reached the area where Gajadar was lying in a pool of blood, their vehicle started to malfunction.
The man said that since the vehicle could not move they decided to put Gajadar's lifeless body into his tractor and pull the police vehicle back to the public road. The worker told the dead man's relatives that when the police arrived on the scene they made no effort to look for her brother's killer.
Gajadar leaves to mourn his wife and other relatives. He was described by his mother as a quiet and hard-working individual.
Police in Essequibo had launched a hunt to recapture Daniels, a prisoner who escaped from the Mazaruni prison last December and had been wreaking havoc in his hometown, Bethany village. Director of Prisons Dale Erskine had told Stabroek News in January that the police were trying to recapture Daniels. He said, however, that officers would not just randomly go in search of the man unless they receive leads or a position where the man could be found.
Erskine said that police in Essequibo received word that the man was visible in the community and were working with those leads to recapture him. Daniels had escaped from the prison on December 12 last year. According to reports, the prisoner was working in the prison kitchen when he jumped over the fence and escaped. Daniels was serving a two-year sentence for break and enter and larceny committed sometime in 2005.
Meanwhile, Primo said they have received reports that Daniels is usually sheltered by persons in the Bethany community. The police officer noted that the escapee knows the terrain well and has been elusive.
Asked whether there had been any recent sighting of the prisoner prior to Tuesday's shooting, Primo said no, but acknowledged that they had received reports of Daniels terrorizing persons working in the backlands. (Stabroek News/Dianne Gonsalves/ (Additional reporting by Nigel Williams and Heppilena Ferguson)