Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Commodore Gary Best has warned that soldiers have no authority to enforce mining laws and as such miners should not submit themselves to any such attempts.
Best’s comments, in an advertisement in today’s newspaper titled ‘Notice to all miners’, come in wake of recent allegations of soldiers raiding and robbing mining camps in the country’s interior.
Best, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Services Coordinating Council categorically states in the ad, “officers and soldiers of the GDF are not authorised to conduct any mining operations, request to see and inspect any mining licenses or intermeddle into mining activities except in the presence of a GGMC Mining Officer.” It added that members of the mining community therefore must not submit themselves to any actions by officers and soldiers acting alone with respect to the enforcement of laws governing mining in Guyana.
Further, it said, no Guyana Police Force officer, GDF officer or soldier is
