GUYANA Police have contacted Interpol (the international Police organisation) for help to track down the four hijackers who took over a local small passenger aircraft in mid-air Wednesday, a senior Police source said yesterday.

He said Police here yet had no clear idea why the men hijacked the 13-seater Cessna Caravan which was forced from over the Rupununi to land in Brazil.

The men are known to Brazil federal authorities who are also trying to find them.

The passports they presented to Immigration officials at Lethem where they boarded the aircraft, identified them as two Colombians, a Brazilian and the other, Uruguayan.

They stayed at the Takutu Guest House in Lethem Tuesday night, checking in as Raimundo De Souza, Raimundo Pedro, Clovef Sauta, and Ramon Torres.

Two of these reportedly spoke Portuguese, while the other two spoke Spanish (one of these spoke a little English).

The men apparently went into Lethem from Brazil and told Immigration officials they were to fly to Ogle on their way to Suriname.

Brazilian Ambassador, Ney Do Prado Dieguez said according to reports, the men may be trying to enter Venezuela.

They were among passengers on the Trans Guyana Airways Ltd. aircraft which Wednesday morning left Lethem on the border with Brazil for the Ogle Airstrip, East Coast Demerara.

In the takeover, one of the hijackers kept a gun trained on pilot Captain Zaul Ramotar and the other passengers were tied up with masking tape in an ordeal that stretched for almost four hours.

No one was injured in the hijacking and the nine passengers and pilot arrived safely at the Ogle airstrip just before nightfall Wednesday.

The hijackers forced the pilot to land the aircraft in Brazil and later allowed him and the other passengers to leave.

It was five minutes into the flight after leaving Lethem at about 08:20 hrs when four of the passengers drew what others said appeared to be automatic handguns and informed them that they were taking over the plane.

Among those on board the Cessna were two officials of the World Bank, Mr. James Droop and Mr. Keith McLean, who is here for a few weeks; Parliamentarian, Ms. Shirley Melville; Mr. Paul Dhanraj; Canadians, Mr. William Dilden, Mr. Donald McNabb and Mr. Robert Eric Foster; and British citizen, Mr. Barrie Burke.