Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee says the administration and the Joint Services are relentlessly continuing their efforts to dismantle the criminal enterprise, which created havoc in January and February this year by killing 23 persons in Lusignan and Bartica respectively.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) reported yesterday that Rohee gave the assurances at a meeting with residents and the business community of Bartica during a visit to the community. GINA said Rohee addressed the large gathering at the Modern Hotel and during his address said that one of the main objectives is to dismantle the criminal enterprise, which he said was larger than “men running around with guns”. citing the harbouring of criminals by certain persons in society.
He spoke of “persons who facilitate the criminals and armed gangs. They provide them with transportation, safe housing, information, weapons and food. In other words, they sustain them and that is what this criminal enterprise is all about.”
Outlining the ways in which the issue was being tackled, Rohee pointed to the passage of the law which subjects anyone found harbouring criminals to a penalty of imprisonment as well as a heavy fine, “because we cannot have a situation where persons purporting to be innocent are giving accommodation to criminal elements while they are plotting and planning their activities.”
GINA said the Summary Jurisdiction (Offences) (Amendment) was passed in the National Assembly for penalties for those who are engaged in harbouring criminals. The Bill provides for the offenders on conviction to be liable to a fine of not less than $50,000 or more than $80,000 together with imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years.
According to GINA, the minister also called for an understanding among the masses that though everything was not being shouted from a roof-top, there were ongoing efforts to prevent and make it difficult for criminal gangs to carry out another similar event.
“Is not only to dismantle the criminal enterprise but to contain them, make it difficult for them to execute activities of the types that were executed at Lusignan and Bartica… It’s not about sitting back and waiting for when they will come. One has to take preventative measures,” he said.
According to GINA, too residents and members of the business community were afforded the opportunity to voice their concerns on security-related matters and to offer suggestions on crime fighting during which several issues were raised including, noise nuisance, youth involvement in drugs and sexual offences in riverain communities.
Suggestions put forward included the need for a better community/police relationship and for every passenger arriving by boats to be subjected to security checks at the Bartica Police Station.
Meanwhile, prior to the meeting, the minister addressed members of the Joint Services at the Bartica Police Station where he expressed on behalf of the government appreciation for their work and reiterated the need for better community/police relations arguing that if there was a disconnection only one set of persons will benefit; the criminals.
