….Nickerie detectives in CorrivertonPresident of UCCCI, Hemchand JaichandPresident of the Upper Corentyne Chambers of Commerce, Hemchand Jaichand,Wholesale Jerseys China, is urging the Guyana Government to ask Suriname for help. He is also asking the government to partner with Surinamese counterparts to increase security along the Corentyne River, in the wake of a piracy attack last Tuesday.Five fishermen, Orvin ‘Bird’ Harripersaud, 32, Lot 20 Grant 1801 Crabwood Creek; Dhaneshwar Balgobin, Kubeerdhall Samlall, Dhaneshwar Sookdeo, Neelnarine Balgobin, and Ramesh Chandra Seenarine, all of Crabwood Creek, were brutally attacked with cutlasses and guns on the Corentyne River last Tuesday in the dark of night.At the end of the nearly two-hour ordeal, the fishermen were left on their own in the dark, cold Suriname waters to endure one of the longest, torturous nights of their lives; to trek through bush; and to swim frantically for the nearest shore; and finally arriving in Nickerie, Suriname, exhausted, injured and very traumatized.The pirates carted off with over $1.5M in items, including their boat.“The Chamber is very concerned about what is happening at the fishery at Number 66. We have been saying again and again, that some authority needs to ensure that there is security on the river”.Jaichand ‘s position is that the Guyana Government negotiate with and have Suriname patrol their portion of the Corentyne River “and we utilize from Number 63…This can be one of the help in terms of curbing what is happening—piracy on the Corentyne River”.He said that the Chamber has spoken to some fishermen who have invested millions of dollars. One of the problems they are facing is having people to work on the river,”because you are not certain if you are going to be coming back when you leave in the morning”.Jaichand stated, too, that the matter becomes one where persons are afraid to invest.“Some of those people owe the bank. It is also affecting our area in terms of business; in terms of supplies of fish, where costs are [going] up”.The UCCCI President would like to see the government “come down here and see what is happening on a daily basis—have some representation”. He stated that he tried numerous times to call the [Fishermen Co-op] Chairman and “sit down and talk to him so I can take some of the issues to the Private Sector Commission (PSC)…so we can see how the Chamber can help”.Lives, he said, are being lost, [and] “no one is saying anything; some of the fishermen are frustrated and I am not sure what is going to be the next move”.The Ministry of Agriculture, a few years ago, donated a speedboat with a 75- horse power engine, along with five shotguns to the Corentyne Fishermen’s Cop-op Society to patrol the Corentyne River, but Jaichand said that he does not believe the fishermen are utilizing the boat.“They need partnership with the marines we have up here and to work in collaboration. They (fishermen) just cannot go into the water as they wish; because of the disputed area (in the Corentyne River)…the [Guyana] Government needs to work with the Suriname Government to ask them to patrol this area that they claim belongs to them”.He stated, “It’s a waste of time giving these people—if you ask them the last time they went on a patrol, I don’t think any one of them can give an answer.”Kumar Doodnauth, former Chairman of the Upper Corentyne Fishermen’s Co-op Society and former Secretary Manager of that body stated that the persons executing these well-planned hijackings are fishermen themselves.“People involved in hijackings got a good, strong presence of former fishermen…so these people know and have a very good idea of the River”.Doodnauth believes that there is a breakdown of law and order and even if they [the hijackers] get caught,Jerseys NFL China, they will “walk through the courts”. “I think there is a very, very weak legal system and then the security system for people in this country—generally, it is not really up-to-scratch”.Speaking about the boats given to the Fishermen’s Co-op to fight piracy, he stated that the police and army are the vested institutions to protect the water and land in our country.“Remember,Jerseys From China, we are taking taxpayers’ monies and investing in the police and army and coast guard…Those are the institutions that got to deal with the security. Giving the fishermen a shotgun—that’s not the job of the fisherman”.“You got to work in collaboration with the Suriname authorities because they got total control of the river.There is a little political thing too with Suriname—you remember the New River matter… but our government can work on an agreement with them”.Doodnauth stated,Cheap Jerseys, too, that the judicial system is very weak in Guyana and even if the hijackers are caught—which rarely happens—the process can be compromised. “If you talk to these fishermen, they are just fed up with the legal system—from the magistrate to the police—you getting harassed out there and when you come here,Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys, they also harass you!“We got a problem in this country, which everybody knows. If you are an investigating rank and you know that someone has been identified—somewhere down the line, someone is going to take pay off – that’s what we got to deal with”.Meanwhile, Surinamese detectives arrived in Corriverton on Monday to assist with this particular investigation.Additionally, the two suspects caught selling fuel jars and a boat fuel tank at the Skeldon Market over the weekend,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, are still in police custody at Springlands Police Station.The owner of the boat that was allegedly used in the hijackings turned up on Monday at the Springlands Station, after spending days looking for the missing boat. Jaichand Ramraj of Number 64 Village, Corentyne stated that he tied his boat along the Number 63 Beach on Tuesday morning last (at 05:30 hrs).“We tie the boat to go set seine that morning; when me go Wednesday morning no boat was there…We took a car to the [Police] Impact Base at [Number] 62 and reported that the boat lost”, he stated. |