Allegedly stolen helicopter was parked at Roraima hangar last year

The allegedly stolen Venezuelan military helicopter was only parked at the Roraima Airways hangar last year and not in 2018 as reported in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek.

National Security Advisor and former Roraima Airways Chief Executive Officer, Gerry Gouveia had told the Stabroek News in an interview what while he was aware that the aircraft came into the country around 2016 or 2017, it had been parked at the Guyana Defence Force hangar at Timehri until its handler Michael Brassington last year asked his son for it to be stored at Ogle.

This newspaper yesterday reported that the alleged stolen chopper had been in Roraima Airways storage since 2018.

Minister of Public Works Minister Juan Edghill, who is also responsible for the aviation sector, told Stabroek News that information associated with the registration of the helicopter had been handed over by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), which is investigating the case.

“There is a claim that a helicopter that was stolen from the Venezuelan military and found in a hangar at Roraima…SOCU had written requesting that a number of persons be interviewed and documents be provided. We are in full compliance with the investigations,” Edghill, who has responsibility for the aviation sector, told the Sunday Stabroek when contacted

“The names of all personnel responsible for the registration [of the helicopter were] handed over…,” he added.

The minister’s update came in response to questions posed by this newspaper to Gouveia, who has distanced himself from the case.

In early October, sources told this newspaper that a complaint was made to Guyanese authorities that a helicopter stolen from Venezuela was parked in a hangar at Ogle. It triggered an investigation by SOCU, which Edghill said was still ongoing.

Asked about the issue, Gouveia said that while he was in charge of Roraima Airways at the time the helicopter first came into the country and was registered, his son, Gerry Gouveia Jr., also an executive of the company, had asked that it be parked there for his friend Michael Brassington.

“So Michael Brassington is a person who was actually managing what was going on with that machine. All we did was to give the aircraft parking,” he said.