Government spokesman Dr. Roger Luncheon said yesterday that he did not believe it was a secret that many of the criminal gangs have benefited from the presence of ex-servicemen.
His assertion came during his post-Cabinet media briefing.
“I don’t believe it is a secret that many of the gangs have benefited from the presence of former members of the joint services,” Luncheon said as he started his response to queries surrounding the arrests of ex-army officers Oliver Hinckson and Dorian Massay.
The two men remained in custody up to press time last night and Luncheon told reporters he believed the men were being held in the context of criminal matters for which they were wanted.
In this context too Luncheon pointed to the notorious Linden London, known as `Blackie’ saying, “I would point you to celebrated (people) like Blackie .. When this phenomenon had been taking place and contributed to the performance and the way in which the gangs operate.”
However he did not make any nexus between the two arrests and that phenomenon.
He noted that the two would also be questioned on the issue of the firearms find at Mahaicony in Berbice.
Luncheon said there were also other ex-servicemen who were wanted in relation to criminal charges adding that once their whereabouts are found, they, too, would be arrested.
The arrests of the two former GDF officers came just over a month after they attended a press conference which was hosted by Mayor Hamilton Green to address matters of the municipality. Green had allowed Hinckson to address the media.
When he spoke, Hinckson said he was doing so on behalf of the 20,000 ex-servicemen/soldiers in Guyana.
Hinckson said he and Massay as well as other soldiers felt like many other Guyanese: “dispossessed, disenfranchised and disillusioned.”
At the time, only the Lusignan massacre had taken place and Hinckson said he felt that people were suffering at the hands of arrogance, venality, greed, malice and spite and that the social fabric of society was being threatened.
Hinckson said he believed that the killings were more than a criminal problem and suggested that all the evidence pointed in that direction and in this regard recommended some form of discourse between government and the disenchanted.
“There must be some discourse between the so-called insurgents, those with a grievance and those who have the capacity to assist in that negotiation,” he said.
He told media operatives too that he and other ex-soldiers were prepared to risk their lives to carry out those negotiations.
“We are prepared fully knowing that we do not have a tacit hand or an actual hand in any kind of mischief but we are prepared to risk our lives, venture into Buxton and assist in some kind of negotiation between the government and the disenchanted.
“When you apprehend and ultimately as it goes in this country, kill a suspect and that suspect is dressed in army fatigues and carried one of the most lethal assault weapons – the AK-47, he is no ordinary criminal. This man has a grievance,” he had told reporters.
He also said that he did not believe that the tactics being employed by army Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best are in the best long-term interest of this society.
He said the army veterans who have an association in Georgetown and presence throughout Guyana have had intelligence that very many young men with military experience are, “so devoid of hope and incensed that they are prepared to go to the bushes and wage a war of the flea.”
He further explained, “that means that they will bite you here and by the time you respond they will bite you there and wear you into the ground.”
Hinckson also said he believed that there should be a peaceful resolution to the problem and suggested that negotiations must take place.
It is in this vein that he suggested that government must sit with all the stakeholders in society and negotiate what share of the pie is for whom, but with due consideration of human rights and for the social contract between citizens and the government.
The two men were arrested on Wednesday morning during an early police operation.
A green pick-up pulled up outside Hinckson’s home, this newspaper was reliably informed, and two men in plainclothes disembarked. Minutes later they emerged with the two men who a source said did not resist and were also not handcuffed. This newspaper was also told that police were interested in finding out where the two men were on a few ‘particular dates’.
The Police Public Relations Office when contacted yesterday confirmed the men remained in custody. A press statement on Wednesday night from the police had said that the two were arrested in connection with public statements made prior to the terrorism activities (inflicted) upon the Bartica community. The police are also searching for other persons allegedly linked to the event which preceded this “terrorist act” in Bartica.
Hinckson and ex-soldier James Gibson are currently before the court on joint charges of possession of arms and ammunition.
They are jointly charged with having a .38 pistol, twelve .38 rounds and twenty-six 12-gauge shotgun cartridges on June 6, 2006 at Lot 115 Aubrey Barker Street, South Ruimveldt.
The duo had made their first appearance in court on June 12, 2006 and was subsequently released on $75,000 bail each. They denied the allegations that were made against them.
Two months before they were caught, the army issued wanted bulletins for them, following the disappearance of 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols from GDF headquarters.
Massay, a GDF cadet who had been sent on a course to the UK, returned to Guyana a few years ago after being detained on several charges while on the course.
He was later discharged from the army.
