Police said they returned home at about 22:15 hrs Sunday and yesterday gave detailed statements to officers at the Charity Police Station.

They told Police that they went to Bella Vista village in Venezuela and were brought back home by members of a family who allegedly took them there.

Police said the girls have so far made no allegation of abuse against anyone.

The schoolgirls arrived back in Charity by boat accompanied by members of the search team, including a female, the Chronicle was told.

Police, parents and other close relatives of the three were on an intensive search of the Pomeroon and other areas after it was reported that they were missing from the Charity waterfront last Monday.

According to reports, Chelesea Jagdeo, 14, of Hampton Court, Mariel Williams, 17, of Queenstown, and Malinie Naipaul, 14, of Better Hope, all Essequibo villages, were at school last Monday, but left before the morning session was over.

The trio changed from their school uniforms into jeans and T-shirts at Chelsea's home in Hampton Court before proceeding to Charity in a mini-bus.

The girls were also seen in an abandoned house far down the Pomeroon River late Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking to the Chronicle at Charity yesterday, Chelesea's mother, Mrs. Cameela Jagdeo, said the Police informed her on Sunday night that her daughter had been found.

She said her daughter and the two friends were in good health and were unharmed.

Mrs. Jagdeo said she wants a full investigation into the matter.

According to the distressed mother, her daughter complained that she and her friends were taken to an abandoned house against their wishes and were forced into a `contraband' boat (a vessel involved in shipping uncustomed goods) late Tuesday afternoon for Venezuela.

The mother said the girls were held at Bella Vista after relatives of those in the `contraband boat' which transported the girls, heard over the radio that the three had been reported missing.

Mr. Chunni Naipaul, father of Malinie, also told the Chronicle at Charity that he wants a full investigation into the matter and said the law of Guyana must take its course.

Naipaul said he met his daughter at the Charity Police Station yesterday morning and was very relieved at seeing her alive.

He said he was told by his daughter that she and her friends were forcefully taken to an abandoned house down the Pomeroon River late Monday afternoon.

Malinie told him that she was pushed and "bodily" thrown into a `contraband' boat from Venezuela.

The father said he was very upset and will go all out to find the men who treated his little daughter that way.

Naipaul said he is a rice farmer who works very hard to send his children to school.

He added that he was worried almost every day since his daughter went missing one week ago.

Naipaul, along with his wife and the mothers of the other two schoolgirls, were at the Charity Police station waiting on their daughters while they were being questioned by Police at Charity yesterday.

The girls told their parents that they had gone to Charity, 15 miles north of their school at Anna Regina, to buy a pair of headphones to use at a cultural show scheduled for last Saturday night at the school.

The girls attend the Anna Regina Multilateral School and said that from Charity, they were heading to

Grant Hunter's Delight, Upper Pomeroon, where Mrs. Jagdeo lives.

They got a ride in a boat but told their parents they were taken away and kept in an abandoned house far down the Pomeroon River and later taken across the border to Venezuela.

According to reports, a man at the house in Bella Vista where they had been taken by others, kept them there after he heard on GBC radio that they had been reported missing.

Members of the search party from Pomeroon found them there Sunday and took them back home.

After the girls left school last week Monday morning and went to Chelesea's home in Hampton Court where they changed clothes, they proceeded to Charity in a mini-bus, residents said.

Police said they were seen on board a speedboat at Charity at about 18:00 hrs that day.

The girls "reportedly left for Venezuela by boat on Tuesday in (the) company (of) acquaintances from the Lower Pomeroon", Police added in a press release Friday.

Other reports said they were seen heading north towards the Pomeroon River mouth; were at an abandoned house far down the river on Tuesday afternoon; and were forced into a boat by a group of men early Wednesday morning.

Charity Police said six ranks were sent down the Pomeroon River to search and all Police Stations across the country had been alerted of the disappearance.

Chelesea's mother said she visited the school last week Monday morning to check on her daughter's academic performance and while leaving the compound around 10:00 hrs, saw Chelesea, Mariel and Malinie, also on their way out.

The mother said she asked her daughter where she was going and was told that they were going to collect some "things" at Hampton Court, about four miles away.

The girl said they needed the "things" to use at a modelling show scheduled for the weekend at the school.