Court martial of major in Good Hope arms find to continue
Stabroek News
March 21, 2003
The court martial proceedings against a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Major implicated in last year’s arms cache find at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara are expected to continue on April 3.
The rank was sent on special leave after reports alleged that he might have tried to have three men released after an army patrol found them in possession of a quantity of high-powered weapons, ammunition and surveillance equipment at Good Hope on December 4, 2002.
He is charged with two counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. If found guilty, the officer could be cashiered (stripped of his rank) and jailed for up to two years, and not 12, as was reported by some sections of the media.
The three men directly held in the find - police officer Sean Belfield and civilians Shaheed Khan and Haroon Gahya - have since been charged and placed on bail.
Among the items found by the army in a pick-up vehicle, which sported bullet-proof glass, were a laptop computer programmed to trace cellular phone users, a town plan of Georgetown and a quantity of high-powered assault rifles and a submachine gun.
