Missing AK-47s… Soldiers accused of negligence charged
-- to be court-martialed
Kaieteur News
December 21, 2006
The soldiers, whose negligence led to the disappearance of 33 AK-47's in February from Camp Ayanganna, have been charged and will be court-martialed soon.
Chief-of-Staff, Brigadier Edward Collins made the revelation yesterday at Camp Stephenson, Timehri.
Speaking with the media after the army's annual Christmas luncheon, Collins said the internal inquiry into the incident has been completed.
According to Collins, the army is satisfied that they have been able to find the people whose negligence contributed to the disappearance of the weapons.
He however stated that it is yet to be determined who collected and moved the weapons from the army's headquarters.
“The movements of those weapons were facilitated by our own negligence…and those persons who were negligent and who did not follow standard operating procedures, who did not obey the regulations have been charged,” Collins said.
The Brigadier added that the army will continue to follow every lead.
“We are doing intelligence gathering and wherever we find those leads we will be going after them. Some of the information we received turned out to be invalid but nevertheless we did not become disheartened nor disappointed…we still continue searching,” he added.
He added that the army will be doing everything within its power to recover the weapons.
Collins added that about four persons have been charged.
In February, the GDF called in the police to investigate the disappearance of 33 AK-47's from its storage bond at Camp Ayanganna.
The discovery was made following an order issued by the Chief-of-Staff that weapons and ammunition at all army bases and locations be checked thoroughly.
According to reports, a mesh to the storage bond had been cut open and the mesh aback of the army's medical centre at Camp Ayanganna had also been breached.
Thirteen of the weapons have been recovered so far.