Frustrated fishing vessel owner says only guns can stop piracy

Deownanan Ravindranauth

Beeram Persaud, owner of the fishing vessel that a five-man Corentyne crew was working on when they disappeared at sea, feels piracy can only be stopped if the captains are provided with guns.

The frustrated Persaud of Number 60 Village told this newspaper in an interview that if the pirates know the fishing boats are equipped with guns they would not attempt to carry out attacks.

He pointed out that fishermen had asked for guns before and government had refused on the grounds that the fishers would “fight at sea and kill each other.”

According to him, that was a “baseless excuse that the government was making because if fishermen want to kill one another,