Bandits who raided Cuyuni mining camps abandoned vehicles along trail

Miners who were robbed last week at their camps in Kartuni, Cuyuni River by a gang of men, were able to retrieve some of the stolen vehicles and items along the trail.

Miner, Mohammed Sharief told Stabroek News yesterday that the miners discovered some of their property along the trail to the mining camps. He explained that the bandits abandoned their tractors and other vehicles that were stolen on the trail. Radio sets and other devices were also recovered.

However, Sharief whose camp was robbed said while they are happy that the men abandoned the vehicles and devices he is still concerned since the firearms stolen remain in the hands of the bandits.

He added that they have not received reports of any other camp being robbed since the police moved into the mining community.

Police Commander Ravendradat Budhram yesterday told Stabroek News that police are still hunting for the gang who carried out the series of robberies on the mining camps. He stated that the team deployed to the mining area is still carrying out investigations and is expected to return to the coast and report to him in a matter of days.

A miner who contacted this newspaper and asked to remain anonymous said that while the police presence is dissuading the bandits, Brazilian workers in the mining camps are coming under pressure to produce their work documents.

Sharief, had told this newspaper that his camp had been attacked by the gang of men. He explained that from the information he had gathered his staff were brutally beaten and robbed. The gold miner said then that the bandits, “beat my guys very bad, but we cannot get communication with them, because we have no communication.” He added that from all indications, it appears as if they had destroyed “our internet service because they did that with other camps and our radio set is apparently down as well… we are just hoping that we would hear from them.”

Sharief said that the bandits had attacked six other camps in the Region Seven area, and they speak fluent “Spanish and Portuguese, but the other one is not saying anything and it is suspected he is a Guyanese who is showing them around.”

Stabroek News had reported that when the police arrived by boat at the Junior Ross landing on Monday they were stranded as vehicles that would have been used to transport them into the backlands, had been hijacked by the gang, forcing them to overnight at a nearby mine.

They however began to trek into the backdam on Tuesday morning.