The army today said that a Colombian national was shot dead at Eteringbang in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) and a soldier has been taken into custody.
An army release this afternoon said “There was a fatal shooting at Eteringbang on Saturday, April 16, at approximately 0900 hours, which resulted in the death of a Colombian national, Mr. Arturo Castilla Balcazar.
“Preliminary investigations by the GDF have revealed that, a soldier at the location may have been responsible for the shooting. He has since been placed under close arrest and will be brought to Georgetown later today and handed over to the Guyana Police Force for further investigation.”
The police this afternoon said they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the man who they described as a Venezuelan businessman. The gave his age as 52 and said that the incident occurred at about 1030h on Saturday while he was travelling in a boat along the Wenamu River in the vicinity of Arau, Eteringbang. The police said that a team of investigators has been dispatched to the area.
With an upsurge in mining and illegal cross-border activities, Eteringbang has been a hotspot for the army and there have been numerous incidents involving ranks.
On December 7 last year, three Venezuelans and a Colombian were held after unlicensed guns with matching rounds were found in a boat they were in at Eteringbang.
According to a police press release, around 12:25pm, ranks of the Joint Services stopped and searched a boat in the Eteringbang River, during which two unlicensed shotguns with ten cartridges and an unlicensed .38 revolver with six matching rounds were found.
