Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 21, 2014 News
… demand drug shipment
Police investigators will early this morning commence examination of an immobile tug and barge to gather information that would hopefully lead to the apprehension of six armed men who invaded and vandalized a chartered Trinidadian vessel which was scheduled to deliver sand to a neighbouring Caribbean destination.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the men demanded from the crew the location of a shipment of drugs. “They come in asking wheh de f**ing drugs deh?” a source associated with the vessel told Kaieteur News.
The crew and security personnel on board the tug Seven Mako and barge LM 2702 were gagged and tied up during the wee hours of Sunday morning, while heavily-masked intruders carrying high powered firearms, destroyed vital navigating equipment among other things and later attempted to set the vessel ablaze.
Jamie Ramroop, the local agent for the Trinidad- based company, Coastal Chartering, told Kaieteur News yesterday that the vessel is damaged to the sum of some $6M in damages as a result of the invasion. Ramroop said that seven persons – six Guyanese and one Dominican, were onboard the vessel when it was attacked.
He explained that the chartered vessel was expected to leave for Grenada yesterday, but was awaiting clearance from the local customs office. The vessel had been chartered by local sand miner, head of Roraima Mining Company SILICA Company Ltd., Mr. Grantley Walrond.
It is however understood that between midnight and one o’clock on Sunday, one of the security personnel was making his regular rounds on the tug when two armed men approached him and led him to the cabin area of the boat. There, the armed men met the second security guard and both safety officers were tied up.
Ramroop said according to his men, the intruders then left the cabin and moved to the Captain’s quarters, but the door resisted and while the men sought to force the door open, the Captain made his presence known and declared that he is coming out. The intruders then moved to the crew’s quarters, but that door was locked so they fired a round at the handle. The crew members later gave themselves up, telling the intruders, “don’t hurt anyone we coming out.”
The boat operators were all tied up and placed on the barge after the invaders threatened to kill them. While it is not sure what the masked men used to destroy the ship’s equipment, the agent said that the men proceeded to destroy the GPS system, the radar and other gear.
They later poured a flammable substance on the floor of the tug’s wheel house and down a flight of steel steps. The men then soaked a piece of clothing in the said liquid, attached it to a six foot long piper and threw it at the end of fuel trail.
The fire started to catch just as the invaders escaped into the darkness. The crew however managed to untie themselves, and was able to put out the fire before it developed. Around 02:00hours, a report was made at the Timehri Police Station where two ranks were dispatched to the location.
Walrond however told Kaieteur News that yesterday’s event seems like a clear case of sabotage. Walrond is currently embroiled in a bitter dispute over the sand mining location which he occupies. The man is engaged in a court battle with a family also claiming rights to the said property. They had picketed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) demanding a cease work order on Walrond’s mining company. They had also accused Walrond of using connections to bully them out of their property.
Walrond has refuted these claims and filed several injunctions to prevent the family from entering the disputed area. The man has further obtained a renewed licence from the GGMC to continue his sand mining operation.
Walrond has noted however that the incident will further delay his sand, while the local agent is hoping that the boat could be on its way by Thursday.
Tug Seven Mako was busted off the coast of Claxton Bay Trinidad in 2009 with some $250,000 worth of compressed marijuana in two crocus bags. Trinidadian authorities said then, that they had received a tip that the narcotic was onboard.
The Trinidadian vessel entered Guyana almost two weeks ago and spent five days off loading stone at a location at Pearl on East Bank of Demerara. It then went to the Didco Wharf for three days and then to Walron’s sand mining pit at Sand Hills Vreed-en-Rust, West Bank Demerara.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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