THE organization behind the fire-bombing last month of the Health Ministry complex on Brickdam, Georgetown, has been identified and the hunt is on to fully expose the perpetrators, Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon announced yesterday.

He said police here have asked for international assistance to find two key suspects who vanished from the lockups at the Providence Police Station, East Bank Demerara, following evidence that they have fled the country.

Luncheon told his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing that the two men “contributed much information on the intellectual authors” of the July 17 pre-dawn firebomb attack on the ministry.

“Every single step has been disclosed and the individuals have confessed and provided utmost information on their engagements in destroying the Ministry of Health head office”, he said.

“Using the information they have provided, another hunt is on to fully expose those who organised and the organization that has been implicated as the intellectual authors who have designed this activity”, he reported.

He said the planners inveigled young people and others into setting the buildings in the complex on fire and commended the Police Force the breakthrough in the investigation.

A female Police Corporal in charge at the Providence station when the two suspects disappeared has been charged with aiding their escape.

President Bharrat Jagdeo last week said overseas connections have emerged in the widening probe into the firebombing and investigators were following leads to people connected to a house in Meadowbrook, Georgetown.

He provided some details on the plot uncovered so far, but declined to give names from a list of suspects he had, saying, “…that’s not the end of it, because it goes up and it goes overseas – the connections; they are going to emerge as the investigations continue.”

At a press conference, he said some of those being investigated may be in the formal political system and others “may be associated with politics.”

The President said those who started the fire have confessed, and through caution statements, have painted the picture of the plot leading investigators to the persons who sold them gasoline, bottles and other material for the Molotov cocktails (channa bombs) used in the attack.

He also came out strongly against what he said was a “very clever” and studied strategy supported by some sections of the media to divert attention away from the arson probe.

Mr. Jagdeo said catching those responsible for the fire and condemning the arson as a reprehensible act have been shifted into the background, and there’s a new, clever campaign emerging that is supported by some members of the media.

This, he charged, is designed to focus attention away from “this reprehensible act” and the loss it represents for the country to “so-called human rights issues”.

Luncheon yesterday said the health sector has developed a contingency plan to deal with the major dislocation caused by the arson, and the ministry is continuing to clean up the site to occupy and have access to buildings that are still serviceable.

He said Cabinet has also authorized additional funding to support the Health Ministry during this period. 

The government has offered a $25M reward for information that could help the investigation.

Mr. Jagdeo said security forces have assured that they have stepped up security at government buildings and other places since the firebombing of the ministry.

Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, at a press conference after the fire, said the blaze started on the upper floor of the main building in the complex.

The complex that was gutted by the blaze that started around 3h housed the offices of Ramsammy and senior ministry officers and four other annexes.

Three other buildings in the compound were slightly damaged, including one in the southeastern corner of the compound in which an incendiary device was placed.