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Custom officers shot while chasing smugglers

Sep 04, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Two Enforcement officers attached to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) are now nursing gunshot wounds to their face and abdomen after they were shot during an anti-smuggling operation late Thursday night in Mahaica, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
While their identities were not released, GRA in a statement said, acting on information received, a team of officers from the Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) and ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) went to the location that night to intercept a boat suspected to be carrying “uncustomed goods” into the Mahaica River.
During the exercise, the company stated that its vessel which the officers were in came under high-powered gunfire emanating from the suspect’s vessel and property sometime around 23:45hrs.
The company believes that the perpetrators may have been tipped off about its operation since they opened fire on the officers.
It was reported that the LEID officers took evasive action by lying flat in the vessel and defensively returned fire to the perpetrator’s direction. However, bullets emanating from the suspects, pierced through the GRA’s vessel hitting two of the officers.
GRA noted that its LEID officers are still to determine whether any of the perpetrators were injured during the incident and is yet to arrest the owner of the vessel. According to GRA ,the owner is no stranger to them or the police since he known for his smuggling activities.
While the injured officers are said to be undergoing surgery, the company has since indicated that an investigation into the incident is in progress.
What occurred on Thursday was not the first time customs officers of GRA came under attack during anti-smuggling exercise.
Back in June 2018, Kaieteur News had reported on a similar incident where two officers were shot during an operation in Bee Hive, ECD.
It was reported that the officers were in the area to intercept a motor vessel and motor vehicle suspected to be smuggling a quantity of alcoholic beverages and foreign chicken into Bee Hive. Upon the officer’s arrival at the location, two vehicles had approached them, which saw the occupants discharging several rounds in their direction.
Despite returning fire, two officers were injured. One was shot to his right hand while the other was shot to his left hand. A few days after that incident, three perpetrators involved in the shooting were apprehended, charged and released on bail.

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