The country’s intelligence agencies are examining the possibility that there is a “phantom body” involved in a number of recent killings and shootings, said Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon yesterday.
Various suspected criminals have been killed execution-style in around the city and the Guyana Police Force has not made progress in these investigations.
More particularly several of these attacks have occurred in the village of Buxton on persons who are suspected of having gone into the village as part of a gang war. Two persons whose bodies were found clad in bulletproof vests were not residents of the area. One of the men was shot and killed during a shooting spree last Saturday night and is still to be identified. During that incident a Private in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), Ryan Thompson received a gunshot wound to his head.
Dr Luncheon said at his weekly press conference there seems to be strong public sentiment that “there seems to be reasonable plausible evidence that suggests that there is a body out there that has been involved in criminal activities and it is not the escapees....”.
Dr Luncheon said intelligence agencies are focusing on recapturing the two remaining Mash Day escapees and also addressing the crime wave they and others have unleashed.
But he said additional attention is now being paid to those other instances of criminal activities that could not possibly be attributed to the escapees.
Following the latest incident Dr Luncheon paid a visit to the troubled village on Sunday. When asked about the purpose of his visit yesterday, Dr Luncheon said he was merely attempting to conclude some elements of a review of the joint operation by the army and police. He also took the opportunity to listen to a few residents who spoke about the recent criminal occurrences in the village. He said residents indicated that they were being targeted by unknown forces.
During last Saturday’s incident residents reported that the army rank was shot by a person in a pick-up vehicle bearing licence number plate DFD 4793. DFD is used on army staff cars.
The men who were involved in the shooting were also reported to have been wearing military style clothing.