Assistant Commissioner of Police Henry Greene yesterday declared an intensified battle against rampant crime in the wake of Wednesday’s killing of a policeman and chilling assaults on two gas stations yesterday.
This affirmation came during a press briefing at Police Headquarters, Eve Leary, one day after the shooting death of the fifteenth member of the Guyana Police Force since April 2, last year. Constable Nankumar Mohabir was killed on Wednesday night when a police patrol came under fire on the Friendship Public Road, East Coast Demerara. He was the fourth law enforcement officer and third policeman killed since the start of the New Year.
The army and police had only hours before Mohabir’s death, launched Operation Saline Solution II with the aim of flushing out criminals from Buxton.
However, Greene told reporters yesterday that no one was apprehended during the first day of the operation. The joint services reported yesterday, though, that some military camouflage suits and a quantity of cleaning kits for firearms were unearthed during that cordon and search exercise.
“In recent months, we were met with attacks by criminal elements and apart from robberies, several policemen were shot and killed in unorthodox and unmerciful methods...such a situation cannot go on unhindered. So what we (the police and army) have done is intensify our activities as it relates to the [East] Coast and as it relates to Georgetown. [On Wednesday] we started an exercise of cordon and searches, roadblocks [and] joint patrols between Paradise and Lusignan...During the searches carried out in south and central Buxton, no one was arrested, but we found camouflage suits in some places. We also found cleaning kits, which could be used to clean firearms. Several places were checked and searched
with limited success,” Green said.
Apart from discussing matters pertaining to the recently launched operation, the members of the head table, who also included Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Commander Gary Best and Major Patrick West, were reluctant to divulge information on past exercises.
Of particular importance to several members of the media, was the status of investigations into the December 4, 2002 arrest of three men, who were found at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, with a large cache of high-powered arms, ammunition and surveillance equipment.
To date, none of the men has been charged. They are currently free on $500,000 bail, which they each posted after habeas corpus proceedings were filed in the High Court.
Greene did not directly answer the many questions on the subject, stating instead that the briefing was aimed only at clearing up concerns about Operation Saline Solution II.
But he denied media reports that some members of the Police Tactical Services Unit (TSU) were apprehensive on Wednesday, especially after the death of Constable Mohabir. Senior law enforcement sources told Stabroek News yesterday that after Mohabir was killed, police ranks were refusing to continue with the exercise and “had to be cajoled.”
“We have no report, officially, that there was any hesitancy by any of the ranks to go on that duty. As a matter of fact, the evidence I have, was that the ranks went with the usual strength and determination...to capture bandits if any were located,” the Assistant Commissioner said. Both the police and army said the operation would continue despite the tragic start.
One of the other ranks who was in the vehicle at the time it came under fire had to be hospitalised at a city institution that same night. Hospital officials yesterday reported that the wounded rank, Constable Surujballi, was in a stable condition. He apparently sustained bruises after he had jumped from the vehicle.
Reports are that as the patrol was proceeding east along the Friendship Public Road, between Middle Walk and Brushe Dam, gunmen, who were concealed in an alleyway, opened fire and mortally wounded the 25-year-old Mohabir, who was driving.
The young cop, who was clad in a bullet-proof vest at the time, was shot under the arm and died before reaching the hospital. The other ranks escaped by running towards the Vigilance Police Station, just a stone’s throw away from where the patrol was ambushed.
Army sources told this newspaper that one of their patrols had just turned back from the Coldingen area, a few villages to the east, but the shooting had ceased by the time they reached the scene and the perpetrators were nowhere to be seen.
Greene reiterated that an analysis of the situation indicates quite clearly that policemen are being targeted in order to demoralise the force.
He said these efforts are aimed, also, at causing members of the force to lose whatever resolve and strength they had to fight crime “and in addition, to cause a spin-off that some of them may leave the force and thus weaken the force. This, however, has not happened. Our ranks have continued to remain firm. Some have been killed. Every time it happens....we will continue to fight crime, since that is what we are here for. That is the oath we took and that is what we intend to do,” stated the Assistant Commissioner.
He admitted that some members of the force are expressing concern for their own safety, but said measures were put in place to ensure better safety and security for policemen.
“We have alerted all our policemen, be on the alert...do not drop your guard. We have asked policemen to be careful, because you don’t know when somebody will kill you,” Greene said.
In other developments Chairman and Leader of the PNCR, Robert Corbin, along with some Central Executive Committee members, visited Buxton yesterday in the wake of reports of a confrontation between the police and residents on Wednesday.
At a press conference prior to the visit, Corbin was asked about the shooting death of Constable Mohabir the night before and said, “I am not in a position to say much about the incident ..at this point in time except to say that I will be visiting there very shortly with a fact finding team from the party executive to have an on-the-spot discussions with the residents there to find out what is happening on the ground . I don’t want to take a second hand report...”
In a later statement from its headquarters, Congress Place, Sophia, the main opposition party said while there, Corbin and team visited several locations, including the market area, “where residents complained of having their stalls broken into, some items removed, and others destroyed” during raids on Wednesday by members of the police force.
“He also heard complaints about forced entry by police ranks, into several homes, which left in their wake, broken doors, furniture and other household effects. Some residents were clearly traumatised, while others exhibited extreme anger.
The situation seemed to be extremely explosive,” the release stated.
Greene yesterday said that no one, as yet, has officially reported anything to the police.
“Nobody has come to us to lodge any complaints. There is the Office of Professional Responsibility, which can deal with any internal situation where our ranks are concerned, where they commit indiscretions.
I had checked personally and there is no report onto now, made at any police station, of any indiscretion during that exercise. We ask the persons concerned if they can come forward and make the reports,” the officer urged.