Reported Suriname intrusion at Scotsburg under probe Villagers said to have confronted soldiers By Daniel DaCosta and Patrick Denny Stabroek News August 28, 2000 The Guyana Defence Force is investigating reports that four armed Surinamese soldiers discharged six rounds into the air during a confrontation with a group of Guyanese at the Scotsburg foreshore, Corriverton on Thursday at around 7:20 am. The four soldiers had been in pursuit of a passenger boat with six occupants who had travelled from Nickerie and had eluded two Surinamese patrol boats with the markings "PO 6" and "PO 1" on the Corentyne River. Sources at Corriverton told Stabroek News that during the pursuit of the passenger boat, "one of the vessels fired about six rounds in the river near to the boat." The sources said that after the passenger boat ran aground at Scotsburg, Corriverton, a dinghy with the four soldiers was launched from the patrol boat PO 6 in pursuit. "By this time a crowd had gathered on the foreshore and some of [them] were armed with bottles and sticks." The source related that apparently in an attempt to disperse the crowd the soldiers had fired six shots in the air. The sources said that the Surinamese soldiers, on seeing the arrival of a Land Rover with members of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad stationed at the old Springlands stelling, boarded their dinghy and returned to the patrol boat that was traversing the area in deeper waters offshore. The source said no one, either in the crowd or from the passenger boat was hurt. GDF spokesman, Captain Wycliffe McAllister told Stabroek News yesterday that the army had been informed of the incident and that both it and the police were investigating the report to validate its accuracy before informing any other agency. Capt McAllister confirmed that there was a military presence at Benab. Benab is about five miles from where the incident occurred. Asked about the report, a spokesman from the Surinamese embassy said that he had not heard of it but promised to make some enquiries and call this newspaper. Up to press time, no calls had been received from the embassy. An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Stabroek News that the ministry had received no report about the incident. Over recent months and particularly during the dispute over the CGX Energy Inc oil rig which was evicted by Paramaribo's military from its drilling position in Guyana's maritime jurisdiction, Surinamese gunboats have been patrolling the Corentyne River on a daily basis in what Corentyne residents described as intimidatory manoeuvres. The boats were said to have on numerous occasions ventured within yards of the Guyana shoreline in pursuit of passenger boats carrying Guyanese and Surinamese between the two countries. There have been reports by residents at Corriverton of a number of Surinamese who enter Guyana without any travel documents. They have called on the Commissioner of Police to stamp out the practice. The Commissioner of Police is the Chief Immigration Officer. At the height of the row over the CGX rig, a Surinamese aircraft also intruded into Guyana's airspace and this was protested by the government here. Follow the goings-on in Guyana in Guyana Today