The Officers and Ranks of the Guyana Defence Force are shocked, horrified and saddened at the notorious and reprehensible criminal conduct of a few Coast Guard Ranks who perpetrated the robbery and subsequent murder of Dweive Kant Ramdass of Bartica, the GDF said in a press statement last evening.

The GDF reiterates that such criminality in no way speaks to its character, the statement said.

The statement continues:
Chief-of-Staff, Commodore Gary Best has met with the decease’s family and given the assurances that all expenses associated with his interment will be undertaken by the state. He has also extended, on behalf of the entire Force, sincerest condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Mr. Ramdass.

The GDF has launched an investigation into the incident and will undertake rigorous internal scrutiny to prevent the reoccurrence of any such acts.

Meanwhile, contrary to the report contained in today’s (Sunday’s) Kaieteur News’(KN) article headlined “Army Chief, Coast Guard rank differ on Lindo Creek”, the Guyana Defence Force wishes to categorically state that the allegation made by one of the arrested Coast Guard, that he was involved in Joint Services operation at Lindo Creek, are false and without substance. The GDF wishes to state that the Rank who is being quoted by KN was never involved in any activities of the Joint Services Operations Group (JSOG). In the past, Kaieteur News has printed and circulated information which sought to link the Joint Services to the occurrences at Lindo Creek. This was done despite the lack of evidence to support their reportage. Though requested, there was no retraction of those reports.

Once again, KN is misleading the public through the publication of information which is totally devoid of any evidence. The CG Rank who is under arrest for the murder of Mr. Ramdass was never involved in JSOG operations in the Lindo creek area. Under the circumstances, the GDF is requesting that KN prints a full retraction of the scurrilous information in the article.