In the wake of the brutal, lightning attack on an East Berbice agricultural community on Monday night, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee has raised the question of whether the assault was a terror attack or a test of the law enforcement capacity in the area.
In an invited comment on the raid which left two persons injured during the 30-minute rampage that saw four households robbed and the occupants terrorized, Rohee told reporters yesterday that the attack at Lesbeholden South, Black Bush Polder (BPP) is reminiscent of a similar one at Canal Number One Polder last year during which a number of houses were robbed and several persons shot. One woman later succumbed to her wounds and one of the bandits was found dead in a trench.
“Like those people of Canal Number Two Polder the people in Black Bush Polder are not rich people they are poor farmers. So the question arises as to whether the exercise was aimed at striking terror or testing the posture of the law enforcement agency in the Corentyne,” Rohee said. He added that it would appear that at least one of two gangs that have been in operation in the Canje/New Amsterdam area committed the act. “This gang regrettably has become very busy and emboldened and has resorted to this dramatic type of operation