The
United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is helping
the probe into the shocking
theft of 33 high-powered AK-47 rifles
and five pistols from the armoury of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF),
the Army confirmed yesterday.
FBI
CHECK: from left, the Military Liaison Officer of the U.S.
Embassy, the FBI agent and Lt Col Wilbert Lee at the storage
bond from where the weapons were stolen.
(Photo, courtesy GDF)
And
as the GDF top brass briefed military attaches of key foreign
embassies based here and the FBI began helping the probe, Army
investigators extended their search for key suspects, sources
said.
They
want to question a central figure in a fringe group with strong
links in the troubled Buxton, East Coast Demerara village, which
had previously expressed extreme public views on the political
situation here, the sources said.
The
Army's Criminal Investigation Department Monday announced that
it also wanted to interview former senior GDF officer Oliver
Hinckson.
A
GDF bulletin urged "Anyone knowing the whereabouts of this
individual is asked to contact investigators at hotline numbers:
226-0119; 227-7962; 226-8645; 227-7989; 225-8863."
BRIEFING:
GDF Chief-of-Staff Brigadier Edward
Collins, second from left, and other GDF officers meet military
attaches and others from several embassies based here.
(Photo,
courtesy GDF)
Army
spokesman Lt Col Wilbert Lee yesterday said investigators were
still looking for Hinckson.
The
Army confirmed a Guyana Chronicle report yesterday that the FBI
was helping its probe and said the GDF is to receive assistance
from the top U.S. agency.
An
FBI agent yesterday visited the Army's Camp Ayanganna
headquarters and inspected the bond from which the weapons were
stolen, the GDF said in a press release. The agent also had
discussions with the Army's investigating team, it said.
The
Guyana Chronicle understands that the FBI will be helping with
DNA, forensic and other tests of clues left behind in the bond
by those who stole the weapons. The agent flew out yesterday and
is to return to support the Army's investigations, a
source said.
A
pants and a pair of gloves left behind by those who removed the
guns from the storage bond have also been retrieved and these
are to be subject to forensic, DNA and other tests, the source
said.
Swabs
from other clues left behind by the thieves are being sent to
the U.S. for forensic, DNA and other tests, the source told this
newspaper.
As
the investigations continued, GDF Chief-of-Staff Brigadier
Edward Collins continued seeking bilateral cooperation with
other countries by meeting the military attachés of Canada
and Brazil, the Army reported.
Also
at the meeting with other GDF top brass were representatives
from Suriname and Venezuela, the GDF said.
They
were briefed on the current situation and the representatives
promised assistance and collaboration for the speedy recovery of
the weapons, the Army said.
Ms
Christine Myer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Georgetown,
told the Guyana Chronicle the embassy's Military Liaison Officer
had a routine meeting Monday with the GDF, including Collins.
The
embassy, she said, has received an official request for
assistance and "we will work with the Government of Guyana
to provide assistance in this matter."
Collins
on Saturday told the Guyana Chronicle the Army was seeking help
from the United States Army to recover the guns.
Six
soldiers, including a Warrant Officer, who were the principal
staff detailed to secure the armoury, are being questioned about
the stolen weapons and have been confined to Camp Ayanganna.
The
Army set up the phone hotlines over the weekend and said these
are being manned by officers around the clock.
Lee
said that based on information received on the hotlines, the
Army Monday did sweep searches in the back lands from Buxton to
the also troubled Agricola village on the East Bank Demerara.
Army
patrols, accompanied by Police, also searched four properties in
Georgetown. No one was detained in the searches, Lee told the
Guyana Chronicle.
He,
however, said the GDF wanted to stress that no place is
"off limits" to the Army in its searches as the
"ultimate goal of the exercise is to recover the
weapons".
Lee
aid the GDF was happy with the responses from the public so far
to the hotlines. The Army is also offering a $3M reward for
information leading to the recovery of the guns.
The
guns were stolen recently but the Army is still to determine the
exact period.
The
confirmation of the theft of 33 of the Army's largest weapon
type prompted a statement of serious concern from President
Bharrat Jagdeo who met Collins and Police Commissioner Winston
Felix on that and the massacre by gunmen in two East Bank
Demerara villages two Sunday nights ago.
On
Wednesday, Collins visited and addressed troops at all the
Army's main bases to underline the serious national security
implications of the theft of the high-powered guns.
Confirmation
of the theft also triggered a weapons inventory check by the
Police Force, Police Commissioner Felix indicated Wednesday.
News
that the AK-47 M rifles and five pistols were stolen from the
GDF base raised fears that the automatic weapons may have been
sold to criminal gangs, including those holed out in the back
lands in Buxton, known to use AK-47s in attacks.
Lee
last week said the investigation has pointed to the "very
strong possibility that ranks from the GDF may be involved in
the disappearance of these weapons."
"Any
bit of information and lead would be pursued relentlessly and
vigorously in order to retrieve the weapons and have them
returned to the storage bond," Collins told the troops
Wednesday.
President
Jagdeo Friday night vowed that "whatever it takes",
the Army will go out and recover the weapons.
"The
Army will go out and recover those weapons, whatever it takes.
They will have to recover those weapons and I hope when they go
into some areas that we are not going to hear the talk about
excessive force and freedom and all of these things," the
President declared.
The
guns are believed to have been spirited out of the storage bond
through ventilation mesh cut close to the top of the building.
"We
are going to recover those weapons because those weapons are
only going to be used against our people -- the people of
this country (because) they are not there to be used on the
pulpit," the President told a large gathering of Christian
religious leaders during an interactive encounter he hosted on
the lawns of his State House residence in Georgetown.
Wednesday,
March 08, 2006
