Gas station bombing suspects

Nov 15, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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(Kaieteur News) – I wrestle with three questions relative to developments in the Regent and King Streets gas station bombing.  The Guyana Police Force (GPF) presented seven suspects in the bombing that took one young life, damaged seven others.  It’s comforting that suspects are housed.  But first, do the GPF have the right people?

Do the GPF have all of them?  Last, does this bombing go deeper than what is shared with the nation?  For sure, there is a need to withhold some intel to secure confidentiality, reserve for trail.  But what Guyanese don’t know can hurt them, particularly where every citizen has a new role -being a radar.

I read about a mysterious unit with the even more mysterious name of “R”, and if that was their first salvo into the face of Guyana, it may be an indication that the imperiling could be in store.  Guyana has help in the form of INTERPOL, and that has tremendous utility.

It would be surprising if there were not American boots on the ground, and American heads contributing their share of expertise to the challenges at hand.  What definitely caught on the wrong foot was the news that three Guyanese are alleged to have a hand in the blast that shook this country out its complacency.  It provided an ominous warning to all citizens that the old Guyana is gone, and that there is a new Guyana in motion.

Everybody wants a delectable piece of Guyana’s treasures.  There are some who covet its land, and its storehouses of riches.  To those I would add a vision to impair local freedoms, and to reduce Guyanese to serfs.  Truth be told, there is a school of thought that insists Guyanese already exist in a state of impaired freedoms.

Speak to one’s peril.  Differ publicly with the powers that are in control, and be ready for a war.  Then, there is the condition of the status of locals, which is tantamount to that of serfs.  Know place.  Mind manners.  Hold peace.  Most citizens have surrendered to their lot, aware of the blanket of fear, and the negatives of being fingered as a marked man or woman.

Plus, the consequences that could follow.  Under the PPP Govt. there has been palpable fear; its leadership cadre stands as an exhibit for insecurity, often irresponsibility, and more often ripe with malignity.  None of those bode well for an outspoken citizen; or any Guyanese who actually uses his head to think or, worse still, think critically, then speak frankly.

Hence, it is bewildering that there are three Guyanese suspects among the seven charged with the gas station bombing.  One Guyanese is one too many; three of them an alarming crowd.  For what reason, this local trio could have gone to the extent that they did, with their names now forever linked with infamy?

Let’s remember a child is dead, and seven other Guyanese are trying to pick up the pieces from a terribly traumatizing ordeal.  So, there is a severe shortage of sympathy for any of the seven bombers.  I take the care to note that they are only alleged to have been the perps of the gas station bombing.  The presumption of innocence must have broad, meaningful weight.  But there is a heavier fury at the three Guyanese who ended up being part of a conspiracy, and part of a nasty affair that led to a fatality and injuries.

It could have been much worse, and where would Guyanese be now?  Jumpy and shaky, and seeing an enemy in every non-Guyanese looking face?  What about fellow Guyanese, given that three locals are named as part of that deadly bomb squad?  Who else is a collaborator?

Who else in Guyana, and of Guyanese extraction (no mixed parentage or more than one homeland), could be lying low, and waiting to join arms with Venezuelans harboring criminal intent?  Remember that charge repeatedly hurled against one political Guyanese.

This is the worst news possible for me, and I am focusing exclusively on the perps, as charged.  Guyana is already so bitterly, helplessly, obscenely divided, and now there has to be looking over the shoulder, and treading carefully, determine who is a patriot and who is man or woman with perverse objectives.  It is just too much for a polity that is so rich, but one that is so poor at the same time regarding who is friend and ally, and who is a threat lurking under a rock, and waiting to endanger.

What prompted three Guyanese toward such dastardly partnering?  Cash?  Addiction?  Grievance?  Oil?  Rebellion?  Whatever is responsible, it’s unhealthy.  It is why authentic national harmony transcends all else.  When Guyanese don’t have that, they have nothing.  Oil can’t cure the disharmony.  Leadership dividing endangers more.  Three Guyanese nabbed.  There may be more around.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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• bombing, gas station, GHK Lall, Guyana Police Force, suspects

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