– search unearths other stolen items in squatter’s home
Six runway lights at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) were discovered missing on Thursday night and even though the Timehri police conducted searches at several homes in the nearby squatting area, up to late last night the lights had still not been found.
Ramesh Ghir
The lights are said to be worth some US$1,000 each.
However, the searches uncovered other items, which were stolen from the airport some time ago, including several feet of runway cable and fuel and up to last night several persons were in police custody assisting with investigations.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, CJIA Chief Executive Officer, Ramesh Ghir, said that over the last few months the airport has been a target for thieves. He said there had been several break-ins, people have sabotaged equipment, stolen fuel and broken into the airport’s main storage area and stolen a number of specialized cables.
He said the total loss to the airport as well as many of the ground-handling operators was in excess of $8 million over the last four months. On the issue of the stolen lights, Ghir confirmed that the six portable lamps were discovered missing some time around 9:30 on Thursday night. According to him, the last check was conducted about an hour before the lights were discovered missing. However, he said the lamps were replaced with some in stock and so no flights were affected. He said the joint services were alerted and several searches were conducted, but did not yield much. The lawmen continued their search and yesterday morning got word that there was a particular individual in the neighbourhood who was known for purchasing stolen items.
Stabroek News was told that the police went to the man’s house and during a search recovered several feet of 5,000 volts runway cable and another set of cables, which was the property of Guyana Power and Light Inc. Chainsaws and other equipment were also picked up by the police and are being held at the Timehri station since they too are suspected to have been stolen.
Several five-gallon containers of fuel were also seized, since fuel was stolen from the airport in large quantities.
The owner of the house where the items were recovered was not arrested yesterday but his family members were assisting police with investigations.
Subsequent to the discoveries yesterday, this newspaper was reliably informed that the drive to remove the squatters may be intensified.
Transport Minister Robeson Benn had last year met some of the squatters and explained that further development of the airport would mean extended runways, and more spacious airport facilities.
He told this newspaper last evening that to allow for this growth the squatters would have to move since squatting also posed safety and administrative risks.
A source at the airport also told this newspaper that many of the small shops in proximity to the airport have over time become permanent homes for some persons.
Well I guess if the GPO can steal my wedding invitation envelopes, these squatter can thief from the Airport.
Nuff Nonsense man, International Airport with No security?
Can’t Blame Fineman & Skinny For This, And You Won’t See Bloggers Like “mackydog” Calling For Ramesh Ghir To Resign The Way They Were Quick To Say Erskine Should When Prisoners Escape, THAT IS BECAUSE WE GUYANESE HAS OUR OWN LEVEL OF RACISIM AND IT’S TIME TO STOP WITH THE RACIST MENTALITY AND ALL WORK TOWARDS THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR HOMELAND, It Is Indeed Shameful That People Are Stealing From The Airport And I Hope The That This Will Be The Last !!
COSMIKE 99 ….
I don’t have a bias as to who in public office does their job good or who does their job incompetently on a basis of race. On the contrary. For one reason I myself am of mixed race (wha we kno as Dougla in GT) and so I can’t take sides, I cuss anybody, Black or Indian without reserve Ok. Secondly, I don’t see the government as a Black govt. or Indian govt. in Guyana like you do. You still believe that PNC means Black people since Burnham was a Black man who headed the PNC and got mostly Black votes and PPP means Indian people since Jagan was an Indian who headed the PPP and got mostly Indian votes. I see the govt. of Guyana as unbiased, yes I said unbiased because to me the government is STILL ran by a Black man with an Indian at the fore-front. I’m talking about Roger Luncheon as the MOST SENIOR PPP member, calling the shots for the govt. and Bharrat Jagdeo carrying them out as President. That is politics my friend, which you don’t understand but you can think off (sometimes it’s good to mess with mackydog so he can teach you something and make you go hmmm).
Next, I live in the US and if you not White…yuh Black. Incidentally, I ain’t white, neither is Jagdeo, nor Luncheon so in a nutshell, I see the govt. of Guyana as still BLACK for a second reason.
Finally, I did call for Ghir to resign sighting incompetency just like I did many times for Dale Erskine to go…not because they are Black or Indian, but because they have proven to be incompetent for their positions.
??
This seems to be an inside operation…but what happened security lights and cameras, does any of this even exist…we’re in the 21 Century people, get real…this is our main port of entry to our country. What are your solutions to the problem now Mr. Ramesh Ghir?
Put an electric fence around the airport. Is there anything Guyanese would not steal? And what about security to the planes and passengers? How inept is this Ghir guy? I cannot believe that in 2008 Guyana cannot secure the one large airport in the country.
The squatters will connect wires to the fence and tief the current.
THIS NEWS STRIKE ME SO MUCH. ARE THESE THE SAME LIGHTS THAT SISTER BARBADOS LOAN US? WELL SHAME ON GUYANA, SHAME ON GHIR, HE SHOULD PACK AND LEAVE. WHERE ARE THE SECURITY? WHEN THESE LIGHTS LEAVE THE PREMISES? WHERE WERE THE GUARDS, THIS IS SO QUESTIONABLE. THE REPORTER OF THIS ARTICLE WAS NOT EVEN TOO CLEAR ON THEIR REPORT, THE NEWS DID NOT EVEN STATE, WHETHER THE LIGHTS STOLEN WERE THE ONES FROM BARBADOS, THAT IS ONE THINGS I DONT LIKE A BOUT GUYANA, THESE FOLKS IN AUTHORITY, ARE ONLY CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR DEVELOPMENT AND THEIR RICHS, THEY DO NOTHING FOR THE NAME ” GUYANA” IT IS TIME TO START LIVING FOR GUYANA. HOW SHAMEFUL IT SOUNDS, THE OTHER COUNTRIES MUST BE LAUGHING AT US, SO SHAMEFUL.
I guess we’ll soon be guided in to timehri by flambos, or candles maybe!
Man this is disgraceful. This is our INTERNATIONAL airport.
THEY BETTER WATCH THE PLANES THAT STAY OVERNIGHT.tHEY MIGHT BE NEXT IN LINE
thats a damn shame. i mean who steals from an airport.. i dont know what people be thinking.
People need the portable lights to compensate for the constant blackouts.
who steals from an airport? The employees, off course. In this case at least 4 employees were arrested and their homes searched. By the way why use this incident to intensify the attempts to remove squatters. This is not adequate reason.