-authorities following tip-offs

Three schoolgirls were found in a house with men during school hours on Thursday at West Berbice, just two days after schoolmates were found in a similar position a few villages away.

Officers from the Probation & Welfare Department of Region Five and police swooped down on a house at No. 42 Village, West Berbice around 1 pm and found the school-aged girls in the company of three men. Reports are that two of the girls fled the home and managed to escape, while police detained the other girl and the men.

Education officials in the Region vowed to continue the campaign and to “follow every call” forwarded to the office. The officials received a call about the young women prior to contacting the police and showing up at the home.

On Tuesday three female students of a secondary school were found in an abandoned house at Hopetown, West Berbice with three men from the village. The girls and the men, who were all partly dressed, were found drinking red wine. An officer from the department told this newspaper one of the men jumped out of the house upon seeing the lawmen and escaped. The officer said too that the girls’ parents were informed and were shocked. The girls, who left home to write the end of term tests at school, were released into the custody of their parents on Tuesday evening.

Last week, six truant schoolgirls were taken into custody after police nabbed them in an abandoned church at Stanleytown, West Bank Demerara with five men, who escaped. The girls, whose ages range from 15 to 17, were placed in custody at the Wales Police Station, while two taxi drivers, who transported them to the building, were also detained by police. A concerned citizen called law enforcement officials after noticing what was happening in the church and at least five males, in varying stages of undress, fled the building and escaped. However, the girls were caught. The girls were students of two West Demerara schools.