Army inspects all bases
Similar theft reported in Suriname
Stabroek News
August 20, 2002
In the wake of the recent theft and sales of arms by soldiers, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) has carried out inspections at all its locations and bases to ensure that the standard operating procedures (SOP) are adhered to in relation to the issuing and booking of weapons.
Although 24-hour sentry secures all arms stores, two of the army’s high-powered weapons - an AK-47 assault rifle and an M-70 rifle - as well as a quantity of ammunition, were pilfered some time between the end of July and August 3. Four soldiers and five civilians, two of whom were foreigners, were subsequently arrested. The latest to be nabbed last Friday night was a Kitty businessman.
Earlier that day, four of the civilians, among them a Brazilian and a Surinamese national were charged with various offences, including theft of arms and ammunition and immigration breaches.
Just a few days before the arms racket was unearthed in Guyana, Surinamese media reported that some 50 weapons were stolen from the Central Information and Security Service of that country. According to the report coming out of Paramaribo, the Military Police and the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police launched an investigation after it was discovered that the weapons, among them 20 AK-47 rifles, were stolen.
The report said the head of the Suriname CIVD, Colonel John Ceder informed the President of the theft on July 30. Like in Guyana, there was strict security at the Surinamese arms unit, but coincidentally, the report stated, at the time of the theft in Suriname, a part of the CIVD was in conflict with Ceder, and was on strike.
The same report quoted Steven Nelom, chairman of the Union of Security Agents for Senior Government officials as saying that an AK-47 was also stolen from President Ronald Venetiaan’s cabinet. It did not state when that theft occurred.
That country’s Head of State, the report stated, said there was no information on whether the weapons would be sold to foreigners, or whether they would be used for acts within the country. According to the report, it has become normal for weapons to be stolen from the police and military in that country.
There has been some speculation that the stolen Surinamese weapons are in Guyana, but a few days after the probe was launched here, Suriname officials were able to recover some of their stolen arms, army sources told Stabroek News yesterday.
According to one source, the Dutch military has recovered some of the stolen CIVD weapons from the home of a civilian. As a result, one soldier, who was in charge of guarding the weapons depot, was arrested along with a civilian. This newspaper understands that other suspects remain at large. The weapons recovered were believed to be a small portion of those stolen, the source said.
Meanwhile, sources close to the GDF told Stabroek News that one of the privates arrested here in the arms probe was taken by the police yesterday for a confrontation with the Kitty businessman and Mohamed Shaharudin, one of the two Guyanese charged last Friday as investigations into the arms probe continue.
The 31-year-old Kitty businessman was nabbed by members of the army last Friday night and handed over to police after being on the run for almost a week.
The soldiers were arrested two Thursdays ago over the sale and attempted sale of weapons, including two M-70 rifles and two AK-47 assault rifles and magazines. One Ak-47 and an M-70 rifle are still missing.
Following a joint army/police operation last Monday, Shaharudin and his friend, Salim Bacchus were arrested together with Brazil and Suriname nationals, Amanda Sueli Dos Santos Vale and Yohan Soekha, respectively.
They all appeared before acting Chief Magistrate, Juliet Holder-Allen, on Friday, but the two locals denied several counts of unlawful possession and theft of the army weapons, as well as charges of harbouring illegal immigrants.
The foreigners, who pleaded guilty to the charges of entering Guyana illegally, were jailed for one week and one month, respectively. They will be deported after serving their time. Bacchus’s brother, Azad Bacchus, was killed in a shootout with members of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad a year ago.