Pirates attacked and robbed the captains and crewmembers of four fishing boats on Sunday of millions of dollars in outboard engines, gasoline, engine leads and fish glue.
The attacks, which had eased up for a while, reportedly occurred shortly after a few persons were released from the custody in Suriname.
The sea bandits, who were armed with guns, did their first attack early on Sunday morning near Mahaica/Mahaicony before heading east towards Berbice. The crew were relieved of an outboard engine and were left to drift until another boat went to their rescue.
The attackers then pounced on another fishing boat – belonging to a resident of Number 79 Village, Corentyne – at Whim around 1 pm and demanded that the crew hand over gasoline, engine leads, a quantity of fish glue and cell phones.
As the pirates made their way along the Corentyne, the crew of a fishing boat belonging to Stephen Henry of Kilcoy were attacked near Eversham. They were robbed at gunpoint of 200 lbs of fish glue valued $1.6 million and a 48-Horsepower Yamaha outboard engine worth $720,000. The crew related that the pirates ordered them to “hand over all cell phones.”According to reports, the crew work mainly in that area and their engine had broken down causing them to spend 25 days away from home. They continued working after the engine was replaced and were heading home with their catch when the attack occurred.
Another boat was robbed near Number 55 Village after 3 pm and the pirates made off with 21 gallons of gasoline and an engine lead before reportedly heading in the direction of Suriname.
Stabroek News learnt from a member of the East Coast Anti-Piracy Committee that government would be making radio sets available to the fishermen, but “they [officials] have to put down the antenna before we can get the sets to purchase and use.”
Chairman of the Number 66 Fish Port Complex, Pravindrachandra Deodat, told this newspaper that piracy continues to cripple the fish industry. He said “Guyana and the world at large were already struggling with rising food prices and if this [piracy] continues there would be more disaster.”
He said police in Suriname and Guyana need to work together to bring the situation to an end.
He opined that a few suspects who were held in Suriname and later released were responsible for the attacks.
According to the chairman, the suspects were deported from Suriname “after nothing solid was found against them. They just paid a fine for illegal entry at Springlands Magistrate’s Court.”Members of the complex claimed that the suspects had been making threats to the fishermen, who subsequently reported the matter to ranks at the Number 51 Police Station. Shortly after, they said, the men went into hiding.
According to Deodat, “We [members] have been doing our best to clamp down on the piracy and we look forward to the government to work closely with [Suriname] to screen the persons who were held and let them face stiff penalties in Guyana.”
He mentioned that Kevin Narine who is wanted in Guyana for robbery under arms and rape was held in Suriname but local police “made no effort to arrest him. They should bring him back to Guyana and charge him because soon Suriname would release him…”
