Captain confirms patrol vessel chase, landing
By Daniel DaCosta
Surinamese naval craft on Friday chased a Guyanese boat right onto the Scotsburg foreshore and its soldiers attempted to force it back across the Corentyne River after firing shots, the captain of the vessel yesterday confirmed. The police and the army were up to yesterday still checking reports of the Friday incident involving four Surinamese soldiers and two gunboats. It was the latest in a pattern of Surinamese aggression which emerged in the wake of the eviction of the CGX oil rig from Guyana's waters by Paramaribo's gunboats. Commissioner of Police, Laurie Lewis said yesterday that the verbal report he had received had not indicated the details of the incident which were carried in yesterday's edition of the Stabroek News and that he had since asked for a report from his divisional commander, Asst Commissioner Larry George. Capt Wycliffe McAllister, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) spokesman, also told Stabroek News that the GDF was still checking the accuracy of the report. He said that so far the army had only spoken to one person who had been involved in the incident but did not think that it could base a conclusion on that report alone when there were reportedly so many others involved. However, Stabroek News spoke with the captain of the passenger boat involved in Friday's incident. The captain confirmed that the boat was pursued to the Scotsburg foreshore by four Surinamese soldiers in a dinghy launched from one of two patrol vessels. According to the captain who requested anonymity he first sighted the two patrol boats with the markings "PO 1" and "PO 6" on the Corentyne River about 800 metres from the Guyana shoreline. At the time he said there were five passengers aboard the boat travelling from Nickerie to Guyana. "I continued travelling towards the shoreline" he recalled "and then I heard a siren from one of the vessels. I eventually reached the Scotsburg shore and ran aground". According to the man the incident occurred just after 7:00 am. "I then saw a dinghy with four armed soldiers aboard approaching us. On reaching us they offered to push us back into the water but we did not accept the offer". Earlier he recalled one of the vessels had fired shots in the air as they approached the shoreline. According to one eyewitness, two of the four soldiers who disembarked from the dinghy and attempted to tow the boat away fired approximately six rounds in the air on seeing an approaching crowd. According to the eyewitness the Surinamese soldiers were unsuccessful in their attempt to tow the passenger boat away and left on sighting a Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) Land Rover approaching. According to the owner of the passenger boat, who declined to give her name, it is the first time any of her boats has been fired upon by the Surinamese. An eyewitness told Stabroek News that the passenger boat was later chased again as it moved from the Scotsburg shore to its base at Shameera landing a few hundred yards away. The boat, however, successfully eluded the Surinamese patrol craft and reached the beach safely. The landing is a stone's throw from the Springlands police station. The two vessels were seen heading up river after the incident. Stabroek News understands that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) base at Benab was notified of the intrusion while it was in progress. Police `B' Division Commander, Asst. Commissioner George told Stabroek News that the Division had received a report of a passenger boat having been chased by the Surinamese Navy and of shots being fired. He, however, said that the Division had not received any report of a landing by the Surinamese on the Scotsburg foreshore. Stabroek News understands that the police at Springlands were notified shortly after the dinghy was launched. Yesterday, the two boats with the markings "PO 6" and "PO 1" were again sighted on the Corentyne River heading towards the Atlantic. Corriverton residents who heard of or might have witnessed the incident have been reluctant to speak about it since a large percentage of Upper Corentyne residents earn their living through cross-border trade or by exploiting the resources of the Corentyne River and its banks. Hundreds also utilise the illegal "speed-boat" service to commute between the two Republics on a daily basis despite the introduction of the car/ferry service at Moleson Creek. Apart from this, thousands of Guyanese have relatives and friends living in Suriname and may be fearful of reprisals by the Surinamese military which has a history of ill-treating Guyanese migrants and visitors.
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