Two more serving members of the Guyana Police Force were detained today as investigators zeroed in on allegations of a death squad made by now dead informant George Bacchus.
The allegations were made in a detailed affidavit, which was sworn to by Bacchus before he was shot dead in his home last Thursday morning.
Police Commissioner Winston Felix stated at a recent press conference that he had studied the affidavits and that an investigation was ongoing.
The main opposition People’s National Congress Reform handed over the affidavits to the police after Bacchus was killed.
In one of the affidavits, which were prepared by attorney-at-law Basil Williams and affirmed by Justice of the Peace John Farley, Bacchus alleges that he first learnt about the death squad after a friend introduced him to a senior government functionary.
Bacchus was introduced to the official as a man who could supply information about certain people and their activities.
He said in the affidavit that he had informed the police that he was invited to the official’s home where he was introduced to three members of the death squad, two of whom were serving members of the Guyana Police Force.
According to the affidavit, Bacchus was contacted a few days later and was invited to the home of the official.
Bacchus claimed in the affidavit that he eventually had easy access to the official’s home, which he visited at least three times a week.
He was subsequently told that any information he had, he must pass them on to the members of the death squad.
In the document, Bacchus described the official’s office in which he claimed he saw several high-powered weapons as well as a quantity of bulletproof vests.
Among the weapons were pump action shotguns, AK-47 rifles and a Sterling automatic gun.
He stated in the affidavit that he later saw one of the now dead hit men with the Sterling automatic.
He claimed that when he asked the official for the weapon, he was told that it was lent to the now dead hit man.
Bacchus’s affidavit described weapons used by the other members of the death squad.
He subsequently got to know the other members of the squad, whom he claimed were serving members of the Guyana Police Force.
The affidavit also mentioned a conversation Bacchus overheard which involved the slaying of several suspects on Diwali night almost two years ago.
In that conversation, the affidavit alleges that the senior official was contacted by telephone by a member of the death squad.
The death squad member informed the official ‘Suspects identified’ to which the official replied, ‘Destroy’.
Kaieteur News understands that some of the policemen identified by Bacchus in the affidavit are among those currently in custody.
This newspaper was reliably informed that one of the policemen detained was stripped of his licenced firearm. Another was stripped of his uniform before he was taken into custody.
Meanwhile, Kaieteur News understands that one of the policemen detained was a member of the now disbanded ‘Dragon Alpha Squad’, which operated out of the Brickdam Police Station.
That rank was allegedly part of a party of policemen from Brickdam, which had picked up George Bacchus’s nephew and had questioned him about the whereabouts of his uncle.
A source close to the investigation told this newspaper that the policemen face dismissal from their position as members of the force.
The source said that all of those detained are placed in police station lock-ups in various parts of the country on the basis of instructions issued by the force’s hierarchy.