Police doing thorough probe of Good Hope trio - Gajraj
By Patrick Denny
Stabroek News
December 20, 2002
Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj yesterday said that the police are being very thorough in their investigation of three men who were held this month after a pick-up was found with arms at Good Hope.
He told an end-of-the-year press conference at the GTV 11 studios that this was necessary to ensure that whenever charges are laid the available evidence will be able to support them.
The failure of the police to charge the three men - Shaheed Khan, policeman Sean Belfield and Haroun Yahya - has led to public expressions of outrage and charges of interference by the government. Gajraj yesterday denied that there is political or other interference in the probe. He added that there are other cases involving persons in whose possessions certain things were found who have also not been charged as yet because they are still being investigated.
The three men were detained on December 4, at the Good Hope Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara by an army patrol. The army patrol handed the men over to the police together with the cache of arms and electronic equipment discovered in a pick-up truck.
The PNCR has said that the electronic equipment includes a computer system, which according to the manufacturer can, among other things "target specific (phone) numbers or randomly screen GSM mobile communications." It contended that the equipment has a price tag of US$450,000 and is only sold to persons who "represent a government or law enforcement agency or are selling to a government or law enforcement agency in your country".
On December 9, a High Court judge ordered that the men be released on $500,000 bail each after the Police had failed to charge them by that time. Khan is also wanted in the USA on several charges and the FBI had put out a wanted bulletin for him.
Gajraj told reporters that recent amendments to the Constitution now limit the time the Police can keep a person in custody without laying a charge.
He said "it has been within the experience of the Guyana Police Force and the administration that some half-baked cases have been presented in court" and that many cases have been thrown out because certain aspects of the evidence were not available.
He added that the Police are investigating a host of incidents with the same number of investigators that they had before the upsurge in crime.
In relation to the delay in identifying the pick-up truck with the false GDF licence plate that was abandoned in Buxton during an attack that left a Trinidadian dead, Commissioner of Police, Floyd McDonald said "no one has claimed it" and "we are still conducting inquiries as to the ownership of that vehicle". McDonald says the vehicle is still in police custody
Supporting McDonald's explanation, Gajraj said, "that is because, sometimes, where the vehicles are prepared for a criminal enterprise they make sure they get rid of the means by which some vehicles can be identified."
He said that in those cases the chassis number may be cut out or the engine number defaced as happens with some of the firearms the police have found. "That is why we are seeking whatever assistance we can get from whatever friendly forces might be available to assist us in identifying some of these weapons."
Asked if the chassis number of the vehicle at Buxton was tampered with, Gajraj said he couldn't say and McDonald too said that he could not say if that was the case. But he added that even if the chassis number was available to the Police, the Licence Revenue Office would have to be approached and theirs is practically a manual system.
The press conference was told that the police had seized 67 illegal firearms and 16 grenades in anti-crime operations during which raids were conducted on safe havens.
Gajraj said that to complement its available resources, the Police have entered into collaborative relationships with their counterparts in Suriname and Brazil in the effort to stem the flow of illegal arms across the country's borders. He added that the Customs Department is also being extra vigilant to ensure that no illegal arms slip through.
