Several fishing boats were on Sunday last attacked and robbed of their outboard engines and other items by suspected pirates operating in the Waini Area of the North West District (NWD) of Region One.
The fishermen were also terrorised and beaten by the group of pirates, who had painted their faces as a disguise and were reportedly speaking English and Spanish.
One of the boat owners, a resident of Annandale, East Coast Demerara who requested not to be named, told Guyana Times during a telephone interview that he received a call from his captain at about 4:00h on Sunday, relating what occurred. He explained that, based on reports received, the men pulled up in a boat propelled by a 75-horsepower engine and painted in red, blue and yellow, and made their way into his boat, where they held the captain and four workers at gunpoint.  Thereafter, several of their numbers took off his boat’s two-48 horsepower Yamaha outboard engines and placed them into their boat. One worker was struck to the head and other parts of the body as he attempted to resist the pirates, who then boarded their boat and left the scene.
The victims managed to make their way to the Waini police outpost, where an official report was made. The boat owner posited that police in the area searched the water top, but found no sign of the boat fitting the description that the victims gave the police. The victims had gone to fish in the area six days ago, and were due to return home in a few weeks’ time.
This East Coast resident has been in the fishing business for the past six years, and has never previously been robbed by pirates. He recounted that he had once been attacked, by the attackers had left without taking anything.  Meanwhile, in order for his crew to continue working in the Waini area, he has made arrangements to send them another outboard engine that he had at home.
The businessman is calling on the relevant authorities to looking into the issue of piracy. He claims that while it is not being perpetrated on a large scale, small fishermen are targeted. Since taking office, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan has focused heavily on piracy in the Corentyne area, and from all indications, a decline in this illegal activity has been recorded.