Latest update December 24th, 2024 4:10 AM
Oct 12, 2009 News
The Guyana Police Force appears to be stumped in making the arrest of an army lieutenant who is alleged to be involved in an ammunition theft.
The police have since search two homes where the platoon commander might have gone but have turned up empty-handed and it is now believed that he has gone into hiding.
When contacted for a comment yesterday, Commodore Gary Best said that he was not too familiar with the issue since he had only just returned to the country and only knew what he was briefed. He said that he was aware that police were conducting an investigation into the matter.
Police recently, acting on a tip off, arrested a man who had in his possession a “large quantity” of 7.62 x 39 rounds and he was subsequently charged.
Police officials reported that the ammunition is used in Ak-47 and M-70 assault rifles. In 2006, the army lost 30 Ak-47 rifles that mysteriously disappeared from Camp Ayanganna.
Appearing before acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Charles Richards, pleaded guilty to the ammunition charge.
The defendant said that he was in a financial crisis and accepted the offer of transporting the ammunition to an individual who said he would be waiting in the Stabroek Market area.
The defendant also claimed that he would have been paid $5,000 if the transportation was a success. Richards, of 119 “A” Field Sophia, while in the vicinity of Stabroek Market, had in his belongings a large quantity of live rounds without being a holder of a firearm licence, according the charges.
Police Prosecutor, Krishnadat Ramana, in his report stated that police ranks who acted on information, nabbed the defendant and subsequently found the ammunition under the seat of the defendant’s motorcycle.
The Magistrate fined Richards $50,000 and jailed him for two years.
The Sophia resident had implicated the army lieutenant in question and another man in attempts to sell the ammunition.
An army official had told Kaieteur News that investigators have been unable to locate the implicated lieutenant, who is at present on annual leave and police have also been unable to locate the third suspect.
It was just last July that Commodore Gary Best had said that the army would be constructing an improved weapons storage facility.
The army is still trying to locate about 12 of the 30 AK-47 assault rifles that were stolen from its armory in 2006.
Most of them were recovered from gunmen who were slain by members of the Joint Services.
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