The July 2 disruption of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) Americas 11 cable at Bath, West Coast Berbice was very likely the work of saboteurs, a well-placed company source told Stabroek Business earlier this week.
The sabotage claim by the GT&T official follows similar sentiments expressed by its Chief Executive Officer, Major General (ret’d) Joe Singh during a media response to the issue late last week.
GT&T has noted the coincidence between the disruption of the cable and the opening of the 30th Regular Meeting of the Caribbean Community Heads of Govern-ment, the obvious implication being that the severing of the cable may have been intended to disrupt international telecommunications traffic during the Caricom Heads meeting and in the process embarrassing the company. This may very well have been the case but for the company’s microwave redundancy capacity Singh said in his public statement.
GT&T’s sabotage theory is linked to what the company official told Stabroek Business was “the considerable trouble” to which the perpetrators went to damage the cable, the location of which was “off the beaten track.” The source explained that apart from considerations of access to the cable site the perpetrators would have had to remove a sturdy metal casing protecting the cable then rip it away from the pole to which it was attached. Stabroek Business understands that evidence of tyre tracks near the site of the cable suggests that a vehicle, possibly a tractor was used to rip the cable away from the pole.
In his public pronouncement on the incident a visibly angry Singh alluded to what he described as “the national security implications” of the attack on the cable while the company source told Stabroek Business that the matter had been reported directly to Police Commissioner Henry Greene.
Previous disruptions of the Americas 11 cable have also been linked to possible sabotage, However, Singh’s reaction to this latest incident was the company’s most robust response up to this time.
GT&T, meanwhile, has disclosed that days prior to the recent Americas 11 incident the fibre optic cable at Loo Creek providing service to several communities was severed in what also appeared to be an act of sabotage.
