Fishermen attacked by pirates in Pomeroon River

Pirates attacked and robbed the captain and crewmembers of six fishing vessels of a quantity of articles as they were plying their trade in the Pomeroon River, Essequibo last weekend.

They robbed a boat belonging to Wazir Bacchus of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo, of a 48-horsepower Yamaha engine, a quantity of grey snapper, fish glue, radio sets and GPS.

They also carted off the crewmembers’ bags that contained their clothing, cell phones and other personal items, all amounting to about $1.6M.

Bacchus told Stabroek News that the pirates, who were armed with guns, pulled up alongside his boat and demanded that the fishers hand over the articles.

They were left to drift for about eight hours until another fishing vessel passed and rescued them.

He said the other boat pulled them to the shores of Mabaruma in Region One where they made a report at the police station. The police promised to contact him and he was still waiting on their call.

Meantime, he called a friend in Mabaruma and asked him to lend his workers an engine so they could return safely. After traveling for a few days, they arrived at Parika late yesterday afternoon.

Bacchus recalled that the men left for sea last Monday and had stocked the vessel with enough groceries and other items with the expectation of spending about 14 days.

On the sixth day he received a call from the men that the pirates had robbed them. This newspaper was unable to contact the crew from the other fishing boats.

The frustrated fishermen have a suspicion about who the pirates are but are disappointed that the police are doing nothing about it. They called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate.

This newspaper was told that the owner of another fishing boat that had been robbed on a previous occasion reported the matter to the police.

They asked them to search a boat of the suspected pirates but the police just looked at the boat and its occupants who “pretended that they were fishing,” and left.