Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan said yesterday that the alleged collusion between police ranks and the persons who escaped from a Brazilian aircraft shortly after it landed on an illegal airstrip in Region Nine last month is still being investigated.
As a result, he said he did not want to jump to any conclusions.
It was Minister of State Joseph Harmon who confirmed that there were reports of collusion.
“There is some information available to the authorities which is suggesting a certain level of collusion and that information we take very seriously and it will inform the way in which we deal with the actual deployment of ranks,” Harmon had told a post-Cabinet press briefing on September 7.
On August 14, the police reported the seizure of a twin-engine Beechcraft, which followed almost a month of reports of a foreign aircraft frequenting the Santa Fe, North Rupununi area. It was also reported that three men were seen fleeing the aircraft, which was reportedly leased to Riwa S.A Incorporacoes e Participacoes, a Brazilian company, by Banco Bradesco, one of the biggest banking and financial companies in Brazil.
Harmon was asked about reports that the persons who escaped had paid the police to assist them.
In response, he said that the investigation was still ongoing. He said that it is better if the investigation is completed so that the information received can be properly analysed and given some weight as far as accuracy.
He said he was told that there was some collusion between the ranks and the persons who escaped from the plane.
Yesterday Ramjattan said that ranks were removed from the area but added that the move had nothing to do with the collusion claim.
“The fact that certain things happened, yes sometimes we move people, not because they are involved…and people have been moved yes,” he said.
Wasim King and Nathan Hamilton, both residents of Lethem, have since been charged with allegedly helping to build the illegal airstrip on which the aircraft was found.
