AK-47 among automatic weapons missing after standoff; businessman, others in custody

Two of the weapons which were on display during the standoff and which the police are unable to locate 

The security forces in Guyana might have a huge problem on their hands where several automatic high-powered weapons are somewhere in the hands of someone or some persons who may not be authorized to carry them, in short; the weapons you saw on a video last week in the hands of men at a mining location may be illegal.

Last week, this publication reported on the development in an interior location in Linden where there was a standoff between two factions, that standoff was caught on camera and from two video recordings made available, men were seen brandishing automatic weapons including one AK-47 Assault rifle.

The two recordings can be viewed at the following links: (Adult language involved, viewers discretion advised) Video One  Video Two

Those men including businessman and gold miner Rylon Adolphus were arrested by the police and up to this morning are still in the custody of the police. Adolphus was arrested with a 9mm Pistol and ammunition but according to our police sources, he is licensed to carry that weapon.

BIG Smith News Watch has been informed by police sources that the men who were seen on the video with the guns were arrested but the weapons they had in their possession at the time of the video are not in the possession of the Guyana Police Force, in fact, the men told the police out rightly that they had no weapons on them at the time.

High-powered automatic weapons are issued to several large scale miners and persons who are operating security companies. However, when it comes to fully automatic weapons such as the AK-47 assault rifle, that particular is generally issued to the Guyana Police Force and Guyana Defense Force.

For a civilian to be in possession of such a weapon, the approval has to come directly from the Minister of Public Security. Today efforts to contact the figurehead of the Ministry of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan to ascertain if he as Minister granted any approval for such a weapon to a civilian or Security Company proved futile.

In the two videos which can be found on our YouTube Channel, men were seen arguing over rights to a claim and threatening to kill each other in the process.

The police last week dispatched a team into the area to investigate the circumstances surrounding the brandishing of the weapon and threats.

An official from the Ministry of Natural Resources indicated to BIG Smith News Watch last week that the land in contention, last he is aware of, was not granted to anyone for any mining operations.

What is interesting is that the general area which is under dispute was at one time an area of interest to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit which carried out surveillance of the area after information was received that the area is used for landing of narcotics. We were also informed that sometime in the past, an illegal airstrip that was suspected to be used by narcotic and gun-running operations was destroyed.