Police in Linden, Region 10, have swooped down on an illegal mining operation up the Demerara River, and have detained several persons.
This publication understands that a number of Brazilians, along with others, including two female cooks, were taken into custody on Saturday following intervention by Linden Municipal Councillor Lennox Gasper and other officials of Linden and Region 10 (Upper Demerara- Berbice).
A Policeman checking the passport of one of the miners (Photo courtesy of Lennox Gasper)
Councillor Gasper indicated that following reports, he and Regional Executive Officer Orrin Gordon intercepted what is believed to be an attempt to commence mining in the upper reaches of the Demerara River.
According to them, “they had permission to do mining up in the river. However, after speaking with the man (in charge), I asked him quite clearly if it’s mining they’re doing or just dredge they’re dredging the river, but then we understand that it was mining,” Gasper stated.
Gasper said he enquired from Gordon if anyone had received permission to conduct any such operation in the Demerara River, and the response was in the negative. “I said to him (the man in charge), ‘Did you get your EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) assessment and all of that to go ahead with it?’ He wasn’t sure what I meant. Well, he’s Brazilian,” the Councillor related.
Gasper said he later alerted Regional Chairman Renis Morian, who then called in the Police. The Police have since shut down the operations.
“Upon investigation, we recognised that not only they did not — based on the records presented — get permission to mine in the Demerara River, but some passports will be expiring in as short as three days. And they didn’t provide any work permit. So the Police eventually detained all of them,” Gasper told this publication.
He said that in order for those persons to pass the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge, they would have had to dismantle the roof of their dragger. And they were in the process of reconstructing it at the back of the Watooka Complex when the team confronted them. According to Gasper, persons were aware that the group had been operating under the pretense of transporting parts of a dredge to dredge the Kwakwani River to assist in flood relief efforts. (Utamu Belle)
