Gang attacks third Cuyuni camp in three weeks

May 31, 2018 News

The injured hand of the miner who was shot.

One man is nursing gunshot wounds to the hand after an attack on a mining camp in the Black Water Backdam, yesterday. The attack by bandits resulted in an exchange of gunfire and the loss of two guns and some $13M in gold.
Yesterday, around 16:00 hours, while the employees of the mining camp were burning the gold that they had just washed down, four bandits who were laying wait in a nearby water pool, pounced on them.
One of the hired security personnel on site said that four men armed with high powered rifles came out of a ‘water pool’ (flooded area like trench), and started firing at the employees of the camp who were burning the gold at the time.
One security guard returned fire, but was overwhelmed by the superior fire power of the bandits, in the exchange one of the miners was shot on his hand. By this time, most of the miners had run for cover.
The bandits who were speaking in a foreign language, advanced to the camp and took up the gold that was being processed. This was estimated to be in the vicinity of 50ozs with a market value of some $13M, the bandits also carted off 1 shotgun and 1 rifle.
The police responsible for that mining area said the police received reports of a robbery in the Black Water area and dispatched a team from Iteringbang, A team of TSU ranks will be dispatched today,
This recent attack is the third in recent months in this area. Only a week ago, another mining camp came under attack from heavily armed gunmen.