Local police are investigating how 12 Guyanese loggers ended up sailing from Guyana to Trinidad in a Trinidad-registered vessel that had its name changed before it pulled into a port on the island.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the men arrived back home on Tuesday and were interviewed by police. “Police took statements from all of them and we are investigating the incident,” he said.
It is unclear what has become of their equipment which was on board the vessel, while sketchy reports have been presented on the events that occurred prior to the men arriving in Trinidad.
Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander Kirk Jean-Baptiste told the Trinidad Express newspaper on Sunday that a Trinidad and Tobago cargo vessel was shot at on last Friday night and forced to leave Guyana after the captain allegedly refused to transport drugs into this country. According to the newspaper article, the Adorra travelled to Guyana last month with a shipment of coconut water and the crew stayed longer than expected.
It was stated that last Friday, the captain was approached and offered money to transport drugs into Trinidad but he refused. This refusal is said to have sparked a confrontation. The captain and the crew were verbally threatened and gunmen opened fire on the vessel.
The Andorra immediately left for Trinidad but was not pursued, the article said. However based on photographs seen by this newspaper, the name painted on the vessel is Anniet.
Sources have told this newspaper that the boat sailed to Guyana to collect coconut water but was not able to do so for reasons that are unclear. While in Guyana, the boat was hired by a Dutch company to take equipment and the men to the North West District (NWD). But instead, the boat captain sailed to Trinidad with the men on board. It is not clear what caused the captain to take the men to Trinidad instead of their intended destination.
One source explained that upon the men’s arrival at a port in Trinidad, they were asked for their immigration documents and it was only then that they became aware that they were in Trinidad.
The men then started to argue about the diversion and asked to be returned home. The Trinidadian police were then contacted and the Guyana Police Force was subsequently informed of the incident.
Last Wednesday, CNC3 aired a report in which the vessel’s eight man crew said that they were chased away when they went to collect the coconut water and warning shots were fired at them. They gave no explanation as to how the 12 Guyanese ended up in Trinidad aboard the vessel.
According to the report, the crew, which includes one Guyanese and two citizens of the Dominican Republic, wanted to highlight their plight and speak about the monies they were owed.
One of the crew members recounted that when they arrived to collect the coconut water they were told that if they set foot on the property there will be problems. They were told, according to him, if they removed the containers there would be “more problems.”
The man, who was not named, said that there was a dispute and the son of the owner of the property was contacted. Three shots, he said, were then discharged and they were instructed to get off of the property.
One of the crew members, who appeared to be a Dominican Republic national and whose comments had to be interpreted, said that he had been working for 11 months and still had seven months’ wages outstanding. The man said that no shots were fired directly at the boat.
The report said that the boat was contracted by the Trinidad and Tobago Agri Business Association to import coconut water. The report said too that the vessel’s owner claims that he is owed by the association.
Persaud told Stabroek News yesterday that the Guyanese men had paid someone to transport them to the NWD but instead the captain of the vessel took them to Trinidad. He said that local police have made contact with their counterparts in Trinidad with respect to the matter.
He said that he could not release the names of the men. Efforts by this newspaper to contact them were futile.
Asked if the men have to be reporting to the police, he responded in the negative, while noting that they are witnesses not suspects. When asked witnesses to what, he said that there was some shooting incident in the Pomeroon. It is believed that this shooting incident stems from the firing of warning shots when the men went to collect the coconut water.
