Illegal airstrip was at Gobeltex -Orealla residents say
Stabroek News
May 16, 2007
Residents of Orealla in the Corentyne River said the area where the illegal airstrip was destroyed last weekend by the army is actually a place called "Gobeltex and is found six miles down the river from Orealla". They told Stabroek News they do not want "an operation like that to stain the good name of our community. By saying the airstrip was in Orealla is painting a bad picture as if the people in Orealla were condoning it."
Fishermen related that during the time that the airstrip was being destroyed they saw an aircraft flying really low "as if it was going down the river and then maybe when the people in it realized what was happening the plane went up again and disappeared."
The residents said farmers from the coastland, who farm in that area, would mention about illegal activities "but they never divulge details and we never asked them because we were afraid."
Residents said they are now hearing that planes would use the airstrip as a daily stop-off point briefly to refuel. According to them, three years ago a fisherman accidentally ventured into Gobeltex to fish and had an encounter with a coastland farmer. "The farmer told him [the fisherman] that is not his reservation and that he should not be there.
"He also told him not to go back and to warn others not to go or they would be sorry," a resident said. Residents related that shortly after that run-in with the farmer they heard that an airstrip was destroyed at the same spot.
They blamed the army for allowing another airstrip to be set up right there because "they never came back to check after they got rid of the last airstrip."
The residents are pleased about the recent destruction of the airstrip but hope that the army does not take another three years to return and "would make regular checks. This situation would not have gone so far if the army had acted earlier."
The residents said they would now be on the lookout for suspicious activities.