Police were up to last evening grilling eight soldiers suspected to be involved in the theft of a single AK-47 rifle from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) headquarters, Camp Ayanganna last week Monday even as the army confirmed that they had made little progress in recovering the weapon.
Coming one year after 30 AK-47s were spirited out of the military storage bond at the same location, Commander-in-Chief, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the loss was unacceptable and warned that several people who were responsible for the weapon and should have known about it would face tough sanctions. A senior army officer told Stabroek News yesterday that searches were continuing but there was no lead as to who stole the weapon or where it might be. Soldiers remained alert yesterday at Camp Ayanganna as the military beefed up its security at the main gate. The army announced on Sunday that it had removed three senior officers from their posts and another eight soldiers had been remanded in police custody following the disappearance of the rifle. A senior officer of the military yesterday questioned the move by the GDF to remand the eight soldiers while only interdicting the Base Commander, Adjutant and the Base Sergeant Major. The army had said that in addition, several others who worked as duty officers and orderly officers were to face serious disciplinary action immediately for failing to supervise the base security personnel during their tour of duty over the period that the weapon went missing.
Stabroek News was told that the eight soldiers in police custody are being held at different locations. The loss of the AK-47 is seen as a major embarrassment to the new army high command coming in the wake of the disappearance of 30 of these weapons the previous year which caused a shake-up in the GDF hierarchy.
Jagdeo told the media on Monday that he was informed that the weapon went missing two Mondays ago, but it was not discovered until later. He gave the assurance that the GDF administration, which he installed in October, is working aggressively to recover it. “It seems as though there was a breakdown in check and handover systems
