Following last month’s theft from a private jet parked at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, government has set up an inter-agency taskforce to investigate and provide recommendations, Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill says.
Edghill, whose ministry the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) falls under, said that the seven-member taskforce comprises persons from all the security forces, the GCAA and the CJIA.
“An inter-agency taskforce has been set up to do a full review. They will complete their report in seven days,” Edghill yesterday told Stabroek News.
On the 26th of October, a private McDonnell Douglas MD-87 bearing registration Number N111RE landed at the CJIA with a delegation of business persons.
It is unclear why the business delegation was here but the plane is registered to Tampa, Florida real estate investor Ramy Youssef El-Batrawi.
When the pilot and the delegation returned on October 28th to depart, they noticed that the door lock seal for the passenger’s door and the baggage compartment had been broken, and on examination of the aircraft that a number of items were missing. These included over 15 bottles of wine and other high end alcohol, clothing, a step ladder and small electronic items.
An alarm was raised and police called in.
Albert Rajram also known as ‘Bunny’ who lived not far away at Circuit Road was arrested and questioned, during which he reportedly confessed to committing the crime. Last week, he appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Diamond/Grove Magistrate’s Court Two and pled guilty to two counts of break and enter and larceny. He was sentenced to 36 months imprisonment on each charge. The sentences will run concurrently.
Civil aviation authority sources told this newspaper that while to locals it may seem as petty theft, the reputation of this country’s aviation sector has been brought into disrepute.
“The public may look at the items stolen and see it as small but the security breach is what really is serious. We will have IATA (International Air Transport Association), International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the US’ FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), Homeland Security and all other security agencies from other countries coming down on Guyana. This makes this country look like a joke,” a source said.
“Questions will be raised to GCAA, I am sure, about the potential risks for terrorism, drug planting… and all these things,” another source added.
Edghill himself had said it was a serious security breach, even as blame
trading on responsibility began. He said that the issue of security was addressed in June and admitted that there was a breach before.
Asked if in the wake of the incident there will be beefed up measures at the CJIA, Edghill said that there should have been measures already being implemented.
“We didn’t have to wait for the theft from this jet to beef up security. This matter was addressed since June and had all the stakeholders involved done all what was supposed to be done we would not have that situation,” Edghill contended.
“We are treating this matter as serious as it should be treated and the lessons learned from it to ensure a lesson like this never happens again,” he added.
This newspaper understands that it was not the first time that thefts from private aircraft have occurred. It was explained that most private jets which are overnighting are parked in a corner area that is a short distance to the side of the army’s air corps base where there is poor lighting.
The army, however, sources said, is not responsible for securing aircraft and that some handlers are in the habit of parking planes they are paid for there, “in the hope that because the base is there they would keep an eye on it” one source said.
“If there are high-level state visits, government sometimes requests the army to provide special security in addition to that of CJIA and then there are times when it is requested that the army alone be the security, along with whichever country’s head security delegation”.
“In this case, no one notified the GDF because it was not a state or government visit so there could not be anyway. So it was disheartening and an embarrassment to the air corps personnel to even know that someone might have initially thought they had a part to play in some way. That is not the protocol and that is not the duty of the army. Plain and simple as that,” the source added.
