Soldiers’ statements being refined - police, army sources
By Kim Lucas
Stabroek News
December 13, 2002
Senior police and army officials yesterday told Stabroek News that statements by soldiers who intercepted an arms cache on the East Coast and held three men are being refined before any action is taken.
Concerns have mounted that the police have not yet laid charges against the three men even though such advice has come from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Meanwhile, a Board of Inquiry has been conducted into the conduct of a Guyana Defence Force officer implicated in last week’s controversial arms find at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.
There seems to be more questions than answers regarding the interception last week Wednesday of the large cache of arms and ammunition, as well as a computer programmed to track the exact location of cellular phone users.
At the time, policeman Sean Belfield and two other men - Shaheed Khan and Haroon Gahya - were transporting the items in a pick-up vehicle registered to an unknown company.
Two other men - Christopher Small and Rajesh Sahadeo - were subsequently arrested during a raid on a house in D’Aguiar Park, East Bank Demerara. All the men are currently out on $500,000 bail and no charges have yet been laid.
A senior police official told Stabroek News yesterday that the investigation is being refined and when completed, will be passed again to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for advice. This newspaper understands that the “refining” of the investigations include tidying up the statements of the members of the army patrol who intercepted the vehicle at Good Hope and discovered the weapons.
This was confirmed by army sources who told Stabroek News that the soldiers are involved in preparing the statements in a way that can be presented in court.
Two days following the interception, a GDF Major attached to Special Forces was called into Base Camp Ayanganna for questioning after it was reported that he had approached the ranks who intercepted the trio with a view to securing their release.
“A BOI has been conducted over the past three days [but] the findings cannot be revealed as yet because it has to be presented to the Chief-of-Staff (Brigadier Michael Atherly)...We don’t know what action will be taken. That depends on the finding,” a source told Stabroek News.
The army is, however, contending that the officer is not being detained, but is free to leave Camp Ayanganna whenever he likes.
This case has raised a number of concerns, especially in light of the type of technology unearthed and the information reportedly found on the lap top computer.
Stabroek News understands that a list of names and cellular telephone numbers of wanted men and other persons were retrieved from the system. The computer was also equipped with software that can tap into telephone calls of cellular phone users and “triangulate” the location of that person.
There have been allegations, especially from the main opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), linking the government to the find.
But at a press conference yesterday, Dr Roger Luncheon, Cabinet Secretary, said that ordinarily he would not respond to the “garbage” that the PNCR puts out about government personalities and others who they might have disagreements with.
According to Luncheon, the PPP/C administration is not aware of any transaction to purchase the computer or of the use of the equipment confiscated.
“The government is not aware of how the equipment came into operation in Guyana...[and that] at no time did any government official request the use of the computer.”
He gave the assurance that leading officials of the Guyana Police Force have confirmed that they are in possession of a similar type of equipment. And in relation to the seized equipment, he said that it is securely in the possession of the police.
Among the other items found were a town plan of Georgetown, at least two high-powered assault rifles fitted with telescopic lenses, two glock pistols and other hand guns, as well as two bullet-proof vests, a 12-gauge pump rifle, a submachine gun, one police identification card issued to Belfield, two camouflage caps and two helmets and a large quantity of varying calibre ammunition. The police last week had said that investigations were ongoing to determine the origin of the bullet-proof vehicle in which the items were found, since only the military and police should have that kind of protective feature on their vehicles.
But to date, officials remain mum on that and several other aspects of the investigation.
The apprehension came after an army patrol observed a suspicious looking vehicle within the Good Hope Housing Scheme at about 10:45 pm last week Wednesday.
The three occupants of the vehicle GHH 7539 were questioned and based on the answers given, the vehicle was searched and the arms cache unearthed. (Additional reporting by Patrick Denny)
