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

“While the internal investigation is continuing, efforts are being directed simultaneously to possible linkages with persons in the wider society who may be the recipients of the stolen weapons”, GDF spokesman Lt Col Wilbert Lee told the Guyana Chronicle.

“All leads will be pursued with the audacity and force befitting the military”, he vowed, adding, “We are confident that we will recover the weapons wherever they are.”

He said the investigation has pointed to the “very strong possibility that ranks from the GDF may be involved in the disappearance of these weapons.”

Lee said the guns were stolen recently but the Army was still to determine the period.

The confirmation of the theft of 33 of the Army’s largest weapon type prompted a statement of serious concern from President Bharrat Jagdeo who yesterday met GDF Chief of Staff Brigadier Edward Collins and Police Commissioner Winston Felix on that and the massacre by gunmen in two East Bank Demerara villages Sunday night.

Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr Roger Luncheon, in a statement after the meeting, said Collins and Felix briefed the President on matters related to the recent criminal activities on the East Bank Demerara and the disappearance of weapons from the GDF inventory.

He said President Jagdeo, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, “expressed his deep concerns about the recent criminal activities, particularly the use of automatic and high-powered weapons. Even greater concerns were expressed about the disappearance of the automatic weapons from the GDF.”

He said the Defence Board will meet tomorrow for further deliberations on the reports of the ongoing investigations.

President Jagdeo, he said, expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the criminal onslaught and condemned the terror inflicted on the affected communities on Sunday night.

A heavily-armed gang of about 15 men dressed in black clothes attacked the Two Brothers Gas Station at Eccles, East Bank Demerara Sunday night, killing three private security guards and a young man driving by on the road, and later killed four others in separate incidents in the neighbouring Agricola village.

Confirmation of the theft of the AK-47s followed that of the disappearance of five pistols from the same storage bond in Camp Ayanganna.

Lee said Monday that following the recent reported theft of ammunition and grenades from an army bunker in neighbouring Suriname, Collins ordered a check of the GDF inventory of arms and ammunition.

The check found that five pistols were missing from the storage bond in Camp Ayanganna and Lee said Monday, “we believe others may be missing” from the base in Georgetown.

He said six soldiers, including a Warrant Officer, who were the principal staff assigned to the storage bond, were in detention in Army headquarters.

The six remained in detention yesterday, Lee said.

He reported that a “thorough check of the weapons inventory” of the GDF showed that “all machine guns and M-70 rifles are accounted for.” The checks were continuing but 33 AK-47s have been stolen, he said.

Reflecting the Army’s deep chagrin that its soldiers were most likely responsible, Lee said, “This revelation is of great importance to the Army since it betrays the trust and confidence reposed in those ranks who were responsible for the safe custody of arms and ammunition.”

He maintained that the GDF will be going after the thieves and the weapons.

Lee confirmed too that the guns were spirited out of the storage bond through ventilation mesh cut close to the top of the building.

Checks at other GDF bases around the country have found the weapons inventory intact, he said, adding that all the guns stolen were from Camp Ayanganna.

Massacre probe continues
-- no hard leads on killer gang

As the investigations continued, the Two Brothers Gas Station that was the target of the attack by a heavily-armed gang of about 15 men dressed in black clothes and which they tried to burn down, was yesterday back in business.

“We are looking into several aspects”, the Police official said last night, adding that no one had yet been arrested in connection with the killings.

The deadly onslaught, in which witnesses said tracer bullets were used, has left the country in shock.

Police Commissioner Winston Felix said Monday the massacre may be linked to the high-speed chase between the Coast Guard and three vessels on the Demerara River on Sunday.

He said investigators have also not ruled out a connection between the killings and what he called “a staged kidnapping” last week involving the four-year-old daughter of an ex-Policeman.

He told reporters a high-level Police team has been assembled to investigate the brazen and deadly attacks.

The investigators, he said, are looking at, among several other things, a possible connection with the drama on Sunday when a trawler and two fibre-glass super-fast escort boats were nabbed by the Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard resulting in 11 persons, including a popular businessman, being arrested and detained by the Police.

Sources yesterday said charges are likely against those detained.

Among those killed Sunday night were three Supernumerary Constables attached to a security firm, two pensioners and a senior employee of the Office of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC). The two other persons killed were the operator of an Internet call shop and a young man driving on the road outside the gas station.

Dead are Loris Semple, 33, of #28 Village, West Coast Berbice and 123 Friendship Village, East Coast Demerara; Cedric Dummett, 26, of 8 Public Road Victoria, East Coast Demerara; Sheldon Smartt, 22, of 83 Plum Park, South Sophia; Lavern Garraway-Scott, 31, of Lot 115 Caesar Street, Agricola; David Brummell, 74, of Peter’s Hall; Hannah Cameron, 73, of 40 Brutus Street, Agricola; Otis Rudder, 26, of Lot 1 Republic Road, Bagotstown (and said to be the operator of the Internet shop at Lot 40 Brutus Street, Agricola); and Cecil Duncan, 26, of 143 Da Silva Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

Police and other reports indicated that around 22:00 h on Sunday, about 15 heavily-armed men attacked the gas station at Eccles and in the process shot and killed three Supernumerary Constables attached to the MMC security service.

Police said the security constables - Semple, Dummett and Smartt - were in motor pick-up - PHH 8405 - taking air at the time at the service station. A company official, however, said they were in a patrol that responded to the attack at the gas station.

The three men died before receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where they were subsequently rushed.

The man who was apparently in charge of the band of gunmen ordered his group to burn down the place, a source said.

Investigators believe the horrors unleashed at the gas station and the chilling mowing down of security guards responding to a robbery report, was meant to send a clear message to others.

The source said the man who seemed to be leading the gang of some 15 persons who closed in on the gas station was heard to blurt out: “I want this gas station burnt down now.”

Others in the gang set the fuel pumps alight and doused gasoline on a mini-bus parked in the compound, also setting it on fire, the source said.

But persons in the area rushed to put out the spreading flames after the gang fled, spraying bullets from heavy guns that left four men dead.

Eyewitnesses told this newspaper it was sheer pandemonium as the gang of gunmen began shooting indiscriminately. Residents and others said the shooting lasted for at least 20 minutes.

Witnesses said the men also fired on vehicles passing along the East Bank Demerara main road at the time.

Police said Duncan, who was in his motor car, PHH 3829, was shot and died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.

Four other persons in other vehicles were also wounded. They are Jason Thomas of Old Road, Eccles, who was shot in his back, treated at the GPHC and sent away; Simone Savory, 17, and Stacy Chinapen, 21, both of Sheriff Street, who were shot in their chest and, according to the Police, remained in serious condition at Woodlands Hospital; and Basdeo Dalloo, 53, of Herstelling, who was shot in his back. He was up to last night still being treated at the Georgetown Hospital.

One hundred and forty three spent shells, four warheads and 13 live rounds of various calibres were retrieved at the scene by the Police.

From all indications and based on various reports, it would seem that some of the gunmen then went to the home of Lavern Garraway-Scott and fired a number of rounds at the house before setting it alight.

The Police said this incident occurred around 23:15 h but other relatives and neighbours said it was much earlier than that.

In full view of her six-year-old daughter, Garraway-Scott was reportedly shot several times about the body before being set alight in her home at 115 Caesar Street, Agricola during a separate but seemingly related incident.

Reports are that five men armed with guns went up to Garraway-Scott’s home and called out her husband’s name. The gunmen also reportedly shot a padlock on the gate, before storming the premises where they were said to have shot the woman several times and then set her home on fire. Garraway-Scott was burnt beyond recognition in the blaze. Her daughter escaped unhurt.

And in another separate (but also seemingly related) incident, gunmen stormed a house at Lot 40 Brutus Street, Agricola where they called out two names, including that of ‘Hannah’ – the 73-year-old occupant of the house.

About 07:30 h Monday,  acting on information received, the Police found the bodies of  David Brummell and Hannah Cameron in a Brutus Street, Agricola house while the body of Otis Rudder was found behind the Agricola Primary School (aback the Brutus Street house).

Police said investigations revealed that a group of men armed with firearms went to the home of Hannah Cameron and enquired for Otis Rudder, her grandson.

The Police said it is believed that Rudder saw the men approaching and ran away but was pursued by some of them.

“In apparent retaliation, the men shot Hannah Cameron in her head and David Brummell in his chest as well as cutting his throat. The bodies were then set on fire on a bed in the house,” the Police said.

The body of Rudder was found behind the Agricola Primary School by school children Monday morning.

The body bore several bullet wounds.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006