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“Every time they break into my property, I have to foot the bill” – frustrated businessman, Jinga Harry
Kaieteur News – Mahaica businessman, Harrylall Motilall, told Kaieteur News yesterday that he is “fed-up and frustrated” of law enforcement officers, attached to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), who have been frequently breaking into his premises.
Damaged household appliances lying on the ground
Broken padlocks lying on the ground
A grill door which Motilall said was damaged by the officers
His concern with the frequent “break-ins” is that he is left to spend more than $1 million dollars to repair the damages they leave behind. “Usually, repairs runs about one million upwards because of what they usually damage or take,” Motilall said.
According, to the businessman, the GRA law enforcement officers have broken into his property located at Mahaica on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) at least 15 times already.
One of the most recent break-ins, he said, occurred on Friday September 3, last. Motilall recounted that the GRA officers invaded his property around 01:30hrs. by breaking down his gate and cutting through his metal and grill doors.
The businessman said that the officers spent 45 minutes breaking, destroying and ransacking his property. Based on a short cell phone recorded video he shared with this media house, broken padlocks were seen lying on the floor. Also metal doors leading to a room were pried open and his grill door was completely destroyed. Inside the room, there were overturned furniture and a small chest of drawers that was ransacked. Some household appliances, a refrigerator and a microwave were seen lying on the floor, notably damaged.
That break-in, according to investigators, was made hours after two GRA officers were shot and wounded in the area while trying to intercept a boat they suspected were transporting smuggled goods.
Investigators believe that Motilall, who in the past has been under the radar for smuggling goods, was the one behind the shooting that evening. This was not the first time that the authorities had accused Motilall of shooting at law enforcement officers. He was even placed before the court in 2020 for a shooting incident. Kaieteur News understands that these were the reasons behind the officers breaking into Motilall’s premises recently.
Sources related that the officers were searching for weapons but they found nothing illegal during the search and could not link Motilall to the shooting of their colleagues.
Motilall had told this newspaper that he had nothing to do with the shooting and was at home participating in a festival he hosted. He is of the view that the officers had wrongfully broken into his property and had said, “everything happen here, they always blame me. Like GRA have something against me…”
Apart from this, Motilall is also accusing the officers of being unprofessional in carrying out their duties.
“They show up most of the times when no one is home and operate like professional criminals so the watchman would run for his life. One time when they broke in, the man (watchman) was so scared for his life that he went missing for two days,” Motilall told Kaieteur News.
“They would present no warrant for a search either,” he continued.
In addition to damaging his property, Motilall is convinced that the officers are taking advantage of him by seizing items which, according him can only be labelled as stealing.
“The last time they broke in they took a number of items including surveillance monitors, surveillance DVR, iPhones, iPod, chainsaw, cologne, etc., basically anything of value…” the frustrated businessman said.
Their actions, according to Motilall, has been traumatising to his family over the years, especially the constant blame being placed on him for illegal activities taking place along the coastal areas of Guyana.
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