Latest update December 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
Jun 09, 2008 Peeping Tom
The Peeper is no expert but the Peeper knows now for sure that had the government procured the sort of choppers that Captain Gerry Gouveia had been advising all along, Fineman and his gang would have been caught by the Joint Services during their operations a few days ago at Kwakwani.
I have said before that we need different types of choppers. We need one such as what we purchased to scan the coastline and the forested sections of the Hilly Sand and Clay Area.
We do indeed need the type of choppers that were purchased. However, we also need the type that would have come in handy during last week’s joint services operation.
Following an article that I had done urging that what we needed was a diverse covey of helicopters with different choppers having different capabilities, the government announced that when one of the old helicopters belonging to the GDF was repaired it would be added to the fleet.
Prior to the Peeper’s article it was mentioned in parliament that the chopper would have been repaired and sold.
In fact after the criticisms that were made about the choppers purchased from Miami, there was even an offer made to sell the disabled chopper for a discounted price.
Guyana needs a versatile fleet of choppers to aid the joint services in the hunt for the armed bandits that slaughtered the children in their sleep.
We need choppers with surveillance capabilities as much as we need those more suited to transporting large numbers of troops at any one time.
We need the choppers bought by the government as much as we need the choppers that others have been recommending, choppers which can transport large numbers of personnel for operations such as the one mounted by the joint services which netted a large cache of arms and ammunition but which was unable to capture the entire gang, all except one of whom escaped into the forested area surrounding the camp in which they were holed up.
Had we had available the type of chopper that could move larger numbers of troops, they would have been able to surround the camp, thereby cutting off any escape route for the men.
They were unable to do so and therefore the men have escaped. We are told that the joint services are hot on their trail; but we have heard this many times before.
I think also we must recognize that it was not the choppers that allowed this operation against the armed men to take place. It was human intelligence which the police actively pursued.
They went after someone who was behaving suspiciously and from that person they extracted information as to the whereabouts of the men.
This is how you go about gathering intelligence. You do not wait for it to fall into your lap. You have to go out and get it. You have to follow leads, suspicions and from that you can build your information base.
I am sure that when the joint services interrogated the source that provided information on the whereabouts of the men, they did not suspect that he was connected with the gang they were seeking.
However, they saw someone doing something out of the ordinary and they decided to find out why this was happening and from this they almost landed the jackpot.
The joint services have been receiving a fair amount of flack for the time they have been taking to capture these men. And this is not without some justification.
However, when the joint services do a good job, as they have in this case, we must congratulate them.
I hope they are able to rein in the rest of the gang that has so far eluded capture. From the weapons seized and a diary found, I think it is reasonable to conclude that the men that escaped the recent dragnet are part of the gang that carried out the two most heinous crimes in this country’s history.
I have no mercy for anyone who would shoot little children so cold-bloodedly.
I have no sympathy for men who would place honest hardworking men to lie face down on a wharf and execute them for no reason at all.
I hope that they are now pursued and captured even if it means asking the Venezuelans and Brazilians to lend assistance in the provision of special choppers just for this operation.
Dec 13, 2024
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