-says heard reference to June 10 fire in area

Courtney Wong, who last Sunday took members of the joint services to the Lindo Creek camp where the burnt remains of the eight miners were, says the camp is hidden from those travelling on the ground and to find it one has to rely on intelligence because the terrain is rough.

The man whose brother, Clifton was among eight slaughtered at the Berbice River camp, spoke to members of the media at the Prime News Studio yesterday.

The others killed were Nigel Torres, Cecil Arokium, Compton Speirs, Bonny Harry, Horace Drakes, Dax Arokium and Lancelot Lee.

According to Wong, who last visited the Lindo Creek area last year, camp owner Leonard Arokium asked if he could escort members of the joint services to the camp site since they could not find it.

He said that he agreed and they left around 9 on Sunday morning from Ogle Airport and went to Kwakwani from where they were taken to the UNAMCO gate. He said that by 3 0’clock they were at the head of a trail that leads to the camp. About 20-25 minutes later they came to an area were the camp was formerly located. It is now located about 10-15 minutes away over a slope.

He said that those with him were saying that he had led them to the wrong camp but they did not understand that that was the old camp.

Wong said that he knew that that was it because there was an old toilet that served as a marker and even though he wasn’t up there for a year, he couldn’t forget certain things.

Government pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh was among those heading to the site where the remains of the eight men were but Wong said that knowing how difficult the terrain was, when they arrived at the old camp he advised Singh to remain there.

I told him “Doc you sit down here. Give me yo boys and we going up…You can’t mek it”. He told the media that in order to get to it, there are creeks and rocks to get around and moss-covered Takuba logs which are narrow, to cross. Added to that, he said the area is steep.

He said that although, the distance between the two camps is just a 10-15 minutes walk, it was difficult because of the rough terrain. Wong’s account would seem to suggest that no one would be able to stumble upon the camp but would have to know exactly where it was located.

According to Wong, while Singh and members of the joint services remained in the old camp, about nine of them – himself, joint services ranks and photographers began the journey to the camp.

The first to reach, he said was himself and a soldier since they were heading the pack. As they got closer, Wong recalled scouring the area for bodies.

“I start looking to see bodies here and there and I deh peeping but you have to go up a slope but is when you reach on the flat then you can get a full view of everything”, he said adding that as he got closer he saw a burnt heap and then skulls.

That is how he knew where the bodies were, he said adding that at this point officers were busy taking photographs of things they were seeing.

He said he was also looking around to see if bodies were dumped anywhere else or shells but didn’t find anything.

About ten minutes after they arrived at a camp, a police officer, according to Wong, said he found a shell.

He said that this shell and another were found a few feet from the burnt heap.

Wong added that he counted eight skulls. After taking photographs of everything including a skull with a hole and a hammer with blood stains, the remains were wrapped in a tarpaulin that was used to cover the kitchen area.

Conversation

While at the camp, Wong said that he heard a conversation between some soldiers which suggested that they may have noticed a fire in that area on June 10.

According to him one was saying “You could remember when we fly over and we see this big fire. One soldier was talking to another soldier and he was saying this is probably where the fire came from. I think it was three of them …I don’t think if they come in front of me I would recognize them because I wasn’t paying much attention”.

According to Arokium, who was also present yesterday, if someone is looking for bandits and a fire is seen, it is something that should be investigated.

“They don’t got bush fire in that area”, he stressed.

Wong added that if what the soldiers are saying is true it would mean that the men were killed earlier than everyone had averaged.

When the eight miners first arrived at the work site they had five or six barrels of fuel but when Wong and the joint services arrived only three and a half barrels and some small pails were left.

Both Wong and Arokium contended that this could only mean that the men had completed a wash down (gold production run) and the set up of the camp indicates that they were preparing to start working again.

Wong opined it could have been a clear case of mistaken identity on the part of the joint services since no bandit on the run would take time to burn bodies and then scatter food which they may need.

According to him it could be that some of them were shot and when the others showed no resistance, they were interrogated about Fineman and after realizing that it was a mistake, the best thing to do was “to clean up”.

Between 5:30 pm and 6 pm on Sunday, after collecting two hammers and the spent shells they left the area and arrived in Kwakwani about four hours later.

Asked about what happened to the remains, Wong said that he had heard arrangements begin made to cut down some trees at the camp site so that a helicopter could land and remove the remains and take it to the main road where a pick-up would be waiting to transport it to Kwakwani. He explained that the terrain is too tough to fetch out the remains.

Wong told reporters that while he was at the camp site on Sunday, a soldier said that the shell looked like the ones they used and when he checked the number at the back of his shell against his, it was a match.

Early Saturday morning, Arokium discovered all of his workers dead in a camp. The men were shot and then burnt. Arokium said he only discovered skulls and bones at the scene. Some relatives of the men are adamant it was the work of the security forces, while others believe that gunmen roaming the jungle after fleeing from the joint services three weeks ago might have killed the miners.

Stating that he believed that the army was responsible for the attack and that it could not be Rondell Fineman Rawlins and his gang, Arokium told Stabroek News in an interview on Sunday night that the fugitive would have had to come into “enemy” territory to launch the attack. He explained that the camp could be reached by travelling strictly over land. Driving from Linden and through Ituni there was a “turn-off” 76 km before reaching the Kwakwani junction. The “turn-off” is the UNAMCO logging road which is located approximately a 30-minute walk from the main road. According to Arokium, Fineman was probably moving away from the Joint Services ranks that were scouring the area around Christmas Falls for him and his gang.

Fineman would then have logically crossed over the Berbice River, the man said. He went on to explain that had Fineman wanted to attack the camp then he would have then had to cross the Berbice River once again, this time moving towards “enemy territory” where the Joint Services ranks were awaiting him. Arokium believes that no man in his right senses would have done that. “I think that the army did it. All the evidence points to the army,” Arokium charged.