The three Guyanese men who were intercepted with a large amount of gold in Suriname may be part of a well-established, gold smuggling ring, supported by a network of Chinese businessmen operating out of Suriname. The trio was reportedly travelling in a locally registered car.
However there is still a question as to whether there is any link between this find and the robbery of a gold dealer at Bartica on the night gunmen waged war in the community and took 12 lives.
A police source told Stabroek News yesterday that the police here have been provided with the names of the men who were apprehended and are to be informed as to what action will be taken against them. The source said the incident could be dealt with as a customs matter and the persons made to pay the necessary fines in that regard.
Another well-placed source told Stabroek News that there were suspicions that persons here with close links to mining camps would purchase gold illegally, accumulate it and then smuggle large amounts of it to neighbouring Suriname where the laws were a bit different and more favourable in terms of royalties and taxes, which would have to be paid. In Guyana, miners are subject to royalties of five per cent and a tax of two per cent and so selling gold here was not as lucrative.
“So the police there may have caught up with some from that chain of smugglers,” the source said. “But whether the gold they had may have come from the Bartica robbery is still to be determined.”
On February 17 when gunmen stormed Bartica, they had first attacked the police station where three policemen were shot and killed. They then went to the CB&R Mining Company where they shot and killed a security guard and stole 12 guns, a quantity of gold and some petty cash, which was in an iron safe. Neither CB&R Owner Chunilall Baboolall nor the police had ever revealed to this newspaper the amount of gold stolen.
The gunmen had also destroyed security cameras at the location.
They then proceeded to the home of gold dealer Gurudat Singh, from where, it was reported, they escaped with a safe. The source told this newspaper that the gunmen would have taken a large quantity of gold from this family’s home.
The source explained that many gold dealers have been taking advantage of the Guyana Gold Board having opened an office in Bartica and were selling their gold to avoid the security risk of holding it at their homes or offices.
Many have concluded that the real intention of the February 17 massacre at Bartica might have been robbery and if the gold found in the possession of the trio in Suriname came from the Bartica robberies, then the theories of community members’ participation would add up.
On that night, after attacking the community’s arm of law enforcement and crippling any element of protection, the gunmen shot and injured innocent persons, supplemented their weaponry, and then executed six men who were on boats docked at the Transport and Harbours stelling.
Killed in the Bartica attack were residents Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian and Irving Ferreira; policemen stationed at the Bartica Police Station, Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir, and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne, and Deonarine Singh of Wakenaam; Ronald Gomes of Kuru Kururu; Ashraf Khan of Middlesex, Essequibo; Abdool Yasin; Errol Thomas of Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo and Baldeo Singh of Montrose, East Coast Demerara, who were shot execution style at the stelling.
The gunmen were dressed in military type clothing and in bulletproof vests and armed with rapid-fire guns. They numbered around 20, residents estimated. The police said some of the gunmen were dressed in foreign camouflage and khaki clothing and some residents said they also appeared to be wearing helmets. After the incident the police said that 165 spent shells of 7.62 x 39 calibre, eight 7.62 x 51 spent shells, three .32 spent shells along with eleven 7.62 x 39 and fifteen .32 live rounds were recovered.
The joint services have since recovered a gun stolen from the CB&R Mining Company. Law enforcement officials said they unearthed an abandoned camp at Bucktown, Wismar, which had been the likely hideout of the men. Searches at the camp produced a Guyana passport and NIS card in the name of Baboolall along with a quantity of eating utensils, a searchlight, a green tarpaulin, a hacksaw blade, and an empty plastic water container among other articles.
