Guyanese warned about drug—for-bike gang

…as Brazilian authorities clampdown

BRAZIL’S military police are calling on their Guyanese counterparts at Lethem to be more vigilant, in light of a growing cross-border bike-for-drugs trade, using illegitimate roads to access Guyana.

The call came Wednesday after the military police in the neigbouring town of Bom Fin gunned down two men who were in a group of four. The men allegedly had in their possession illegally obtained motorcycles at a secondary roadway leading to the Takutu River.

Local divisional commander, Senior Superintendent Kevin Adonis told the Guyana Chronicle that the police here have been doing everything they could to secure all the border locations. “We do not know of any trading of any bikes into Lethem,” Adonis said, but sources at Lethem say that this thing has been going on for years.

According to a report in the Brazilian daily, Folha Boa Vista, the military police in the State of Roraima have been keeping tabs on robbery and gun crime reports, and on Tuesday night came upon the four men who were headed to the border.

Again, according to Folha Boa Vista, for some time now, criminal elements have been bypassing the traditional routes of getting to Guyana, and using the secondary roads which lead to the edge of the Takutu River and into indigenous communities to escape detection.
Commander-in-Chief of the Brazilian Military Police, Colonel Edison Prola told a news conference on Wednesday in Roraima that the authorities and sister agencies have been working diligently to get a lead on the gang carrying out this particular activity.

“We were monitoring a gang specialising in motorcycle theft and robbery in Boa Vista. These individuals were stealing these bikes and taking them to Guyana,” Prola told reporters. He said that a trap was set on Tuesday, and that is what led to the confrontation with the gang.

He said the criminals shot at the police, and that two of them, an 18 and 19-year-old, died in the confrontation.

“These individuals are linked to factions; they traded these bikes into the Guyana region for drugs, the main driver of crime,” Prola said.
He said that while there is a partnership with the Guyanese police across the border, there is yet need for a more rigorous response.

He said that persons from Roraima visit Lethem every weekend and cross over with motorcycles fitted with Brazilian number plates. He said if the police at Lethem do not act steadily, the situation would remain difficult to address.

The Military Police commander reiterated that the criminals are utilising secondary roads from the state of Roraima to cross into Guyana. He said when the Takutu River is low there is a greater facilitation of the drug-bike exchanges.