The fact that two gold miners, Donavan Washington and Zaheer Mohammed Sherriff had their lives violently taken on Sunday, at Arimu Backdam in Region Seven, while they were transporting gold from one location to another, provides yet another poignant example that illustrates the dimensions of cold and ruthless criminal activity that continues to target sections of the business community in Guyana. The targeting of gold miners, believed to be moving significant quantities of gold across remote parts of the country, is part of a wider problem of bandits targeting what they believe to be the vulnerable sections of the business community as a whole.
One of the things that the authorities now have to understand is that the oil-driven new-found wealth that manifests itself in a continually transforming business environment requires responses in the country’s overall security infrastructure to take account of the fact that criminals as much as legitimate entrepreneurial types would be keen to take advantage of the fast transforming environment. Whether or not law enforcement has fashioned a strategic plan tailored to take account of the enhanced security needs of the business community is not something that the public would necessarily be aware of though it is not uncommon to hear comments emanating from the business community which suggests that it places no great faith in conventional law enforcement.