– fishers in Berbice raided
Pirates, masked and armed with guns terrorized and robbed the captains and crew members of two fishing boats on Sunday evening, carting off almost $4 million in engines, fish, gasoline and other items.
Reports are that the pirates first robbed 45-year-old Jagjeet Balkarran of Shieldstown, West Bank Berbice (WBB) and crew around 6 pm while they were fishing about three miles off the Albion, Corentyne foreshore.
Sources told this newspaper that the pirates pulled up alongside the fishermen’s boat that was fitted with a Yamaha outboard engine and pointed a gun at them while ordering them to join the boat they came with.
They then took over the boat the fishermen were in and used it to escape, taking away the catch. They had removed the engine from the boat they dumped the men in.
The fishers were finally able to drift to shore and reported the matter to the police. The boat was recovered at the Rose Hall foreshore during a search yesterday minus the engine and other articles.
And in the other incident, two crew members whose names were given as Patrick and Kassim of Number Two Settlement, Blair-mont, WBB along with two other members were attacked by four masked gunmen while fishing close to the mouth of the Berbice River.
The captain of the boat was also severely beaten with a piece of wood.
The men were robbed of a Yamaha outboard engine, one gallon of gasoline, groceries, a battery and cellular phones. They too managed to drift to shore and reported the matter to the police.
These are the latest in a series of attacks on fishermen at sea.
During last week a fishing boat named, Prince Oman with crew members from the East Coast Demerara were attacked by pirates in Suriname waters.
The pirates shot two of the fishermen and took two of them hostage while escaping. The men who were missing turned up alive and well two days later.
Where’s the coastguards on this one. Fishermen and other boaters need to arm themselves. They are the only people that can protect themselves down there. Just make sure your weapons are legally obtained otherwise the police would use this as another torture opportunity or opportunity to discharge their weapon. I have seen it first hand in Guyana of how police hurt innocent people.
The new boats recently arrived from Florida have no fuel.
There at the police station getting a crash course in “rough up” of suspects.
Coastguard cannot be all over the place,but here is my suggestion, all those rogue cops, send them out to the sea to hunt for pirates.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH SHANKAR DADA.WASTE THE PIRATES ON SIGHT
De coastguards committing dem own crimes in de Essequibo river!!!LOL
come on we are wasting time on these so call pirates……..start dealing with them now before things get out of hand.
THINGS ALREADY GET OUT OF HAND.
you mean more out of hand. it’s already there.
Guyana police has an insurmountable task as so many in Guyana have criminal intentions. Additionally, some in the forces itself have criminal intentions thus multiplying the problem.
Captains of sea craft must be compelled to carry shotguns and those captains should be charged if they fail to take evasive measures when under attack otherwise these robberies on the high seas will get worse.
OMG Satish! What are you saying? Guns? You don’t see whats going on in this bogosphere when the criminals get hurt? These folks are are blaming the GOG for everything. They cry out for protection and justice but condemn the process.
I hope your ‘evasive measures’ means run and hide.
csing, we are overreacting from what happened to the tortured boy?
No SKY, just trying to avoid the wrath of my fellow Guyanese.
Thanks for your light-hearted input csingh, however RUN AND HIDE was not really what was on my mind. Here is a 3 STAGE process which every captain should be versed in:
When approached by unidentified craft:
1 Raise the fishing boat flag. Each boat MUST HAVE ONE. This is an instruction to the intruder to move away. Failure to move away would result in stage 2
2 Captain fires a shot/flare into the air. Failure of the intruder to move away would result in stage 3.
3 Direct firing on the approaching unidentifed craft.
LET THE GRAHA PEOPLE BLOGG THEMSELVES SILLY IF THEY DO NOT HAVE COMMONSENSE.
Bob rest yourself you are talking trash as usual.
if dem didnt wear de patch den dem is nat pirates….
dem if thieves and roten tugs….notin else…..
lol
if dem have cutlass and nat swords, dem is thieves and roten tugs…notin else…
Oh how romantic:) You miss your old pirate movies, right?
NOT ONLY THE FISHES HAVE TO BE AFRAID IN THE DEEP SEA, BUT THE FISHERS OF FISHES TOO!!!
This is old news, nothing was done about this matter since it began, pirates using guns and stealing, some foolices using spirits and matches, new day same crimes, different names.
These pirates thinks if some polices who are paid by tax payers to serve and protect can committ crimes, why can’t they.
Total lawlessness, Guyana is a cowboy country, where most disrespect the laws, GPF,GDF, and some citizens who buys nuts from the nut cart man, everyone going nuts if this Government don’t do what’s supposed to be done.
Reddy Guyana is in good hands.
Reddy yawned himself to sleep. Now he’s sleepwalking on the beach in Barbados dreaming Guyana is in good hands.
Send some a dem police to go get pirates
I know that I am leaving myself wide open for criticism with the following, but anyway, here goes:
Although some are frivolously suggesting that police/coast guard personnel be sent to sea to confront the pirates, I feel that this is not an entirely bad idea. Include them (armed police/coast guard) with legitimate fishing boat crews and have them engage the pirates at sea.
I know that some may say that this would be putting the legitimate fishermen’s lives at risk, but this is exactly what they presently face without a police presence.
We may be surprised that the mere hint of a police presence could result in a reduced incidence of piracy. Think of Somalia and the reduced incidences of piracy as a result of international intervention.
hi guyana the road is ruff but do not give up. criticise but also help out buys.