Gunplay in mining camp… AK-47s in miners’ hands spark major investigation
Several persons, including a gold exporter, Rylon Adolphus, were arrested in connection with a video that surfaced on Friday last showing gunmen invading a mining camp in the Upper Berbice area.Death threats were issued during the incident last week.
Kaieteur News had reported that the video was posted online showing an apparent standoff between two groups and in that video the men were seen brandishing AK-47 rifles. Commander of the Region 10 division, Superintendent Hugh Winter, confirmed that a number of men were in custody. It was later disclosed that the guns seen in the video were not recovered by police. When the video surfaced online, security officials immediately became alarmed and expressed their concerns which sparked a major investigation to ascertain where the men acquired the weapons. In fact, warning bells were reportedly sounded at the levels of the hierarchy of the police force. It should be noted that high-powered automatic weapons, like AR rifles, are issued to large scale miners and persons operating security companies.
However, AK47 assault rifles are not among them. These are only issued to the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force. During the invasion at the Iron Mountain camp, an area off the Unamco road near the Demerara Timbers concession, there were shots fired in what workers said was a clear attempt to bully them to remove from the area. According to a camp manager, the operation was a prospecting one with about 17 workers. The camp was being managed by a businessman known as ‘Sunna’.
It was explained that the mining block was controlled by a man named ‘Benson’ who acquired it through the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission. Permission was apparently granted to ‘Sunna’ and another man called ‘Adolphus’ and ‘Isaacs’ to work in separate areas. “These guys say they own the land. They don’t care about Mr. Benson,” one of the workers explained. Then, on Saturday, heavily armed men came with someone and attempted to remove ‘Sunna’ and his prospecting operations. About 4pm, workers in the camp heard rapid gunfire and on racing out towards the sound, they were told by another worker that gunmen were coming. In minutes, a group, of six men, heavily armed with AR rifles and other big guns, were in the camp. The men are said to be miners.
(Kaieteur News)