The police must be commended for the retrieval of the $17M GuySuCo payroll which was snatched on Thursday and the capture of some of the suspected perpetrators. Two of the suspects were also killed in exchanges with the law enforcers.
The joint services have not had an easy time in recent years and even the August neutralizing of the threat posed by the notorious `Fineman’ has not eased its burdens. Indeed, the reign of `Fineman’ has left many question marks around the police performance including why he was able to elude the law for so long, what he was actually guilty of and whether the haze that shrouds the Lindo Creek massacre will ever be lifted.
But back to the GuySuCo payroll and the bridge at Stanleytown. What separated the police’s performance from previous incidents of this type were the swiftness of the response and the relentlessness that accompanied it. After the heist at around 11.05 am, the police were notified and tipped off about the whereabouts of the GEB vehicle which originally contained the payroll. An immediate search was conducted in the foreshore area at Nismes and one suspected bandit was shot dead. Simultaneously, reinforcements poured into strategic points and road blocks were set up at key areas and at the harbour bridge to intercept the escape vehicle.
The police operation continued all afternoon, into the evening and the early hours of Friday morning during which time another suspect was apprehended in the Nismes foreshore area, a suspicious car and two occupants were detained and there was a confrontation with suspects in the getaway vehicle during which one was killed.
The apprehension of a number of suspects is extremely useful as they can be professionally interrogated to reveal the extent of the planning and the conspirators who were involved in this elaborate operation. A large amount of physical evidence was also recovered and should lead to the lifting of fingerprints and ballistic information possibly connecting the attackers in this case to other crimes which have plagued the West Demerara and other communities.
An important phase of the investigation is yet to come. Too often the police have made apprehensions and recovered tantalizing evidence without being able to transform these into charges and cases that can be won. So the final verdict in this matter should be reserved.
What was troubling is that in the aftermath of the demise of `Fineman’ and the way that that had been trumpeted by the government and the joint services as spelling the end of organized criminality the omens differ. Despite the manner in which the payroll enterprise spectacularly unravelled it bespoke of a continuing critical mass of unchecked criminality. There were at least nine men involved in the attack who undoubtedly had support from others. We have often mused in these columns about how 9 to 12 people suddenly become mobilized to engage in this type of crime. Was this a mobile phone call out? Was this the association of ex-cons from the Georgetown Prisons? Was this the local crime bosses re-energising their operations following the departure of feared wanted men like `Fineman’ Whatever the explanation it should worry the police immensely because nests of criminals like this one have auxiliaries and support groups that remain available for hire.
Also quite chilling was the level of planning of the operation and the intelligence that it relied on. The men knew the routine of the GuySuCo payroll schedule, knew the route, had figured out that the best interception point was the Stanleytown bridge, had probably mobilized help from within GuySuCo as evidenced by the suspicious behaviour of the estate vehicle and they had worked on something of an escape plan utilizing a boat on the river and making off with the GEB vehicle as a decoy. It all went terribly wrong for the criminals but it should still give citizens reasons for pause.
On the other hand, the level of the police force’s intelligence gathering seems to be no match for gangs like the one that lifted the payroll. The police never seem to have the inside track to allow them to pre-empt or compromise these attacks or to catch the perpetrators red-handed.
Another example of the intelligence failure was the well-planned attack on a bus travelling along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway to Lethem last month. This attack on an important artery could have implications for the expanded travel that is likely when the Takutu Bridge is commissioned. Here again the attack was carried out with precision planning and two car loads of gunmen were able to flee after forcing the bus to stop by firing at it.
With rapid response being the key requirement it must have dawned upon the police and the Minister of Home Affairs that the 911 emergency call system has to be upgraded. There will always be crank calls. Whether sufficient resources have been deployed to eliminate that as a serious hindrance to 911’s use has still not been answered.
The payroll recovery was clearly a success but much, much more needs to be done.
