THE police have not closed their investigations into the disappearance of an aircraft from an abandoned airstrip on the Essequibo Coast, the discovery of a large quantity of counterfeit money in a barrel at a city wharf, and the discovery of an abandoned airstrip upriver from Orealla.
But, according to Crime Chief Seelall Persaud, when contacted yesterday for an update, he said no new developments have emerged in any of these cases.
On October 13, 2007, a small blue and white Piper Seneca aircraft with red stripes vanished without a trace from an abandoned airstrip aback of Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast, where the pilot had left it parked.
The aircraft with the distinguishing marking 8RGAA initially belonged to Air Services Limited (ASL) before it was leased about a month before the disappearance to Fenix Airways Inc. which at that time rented an office in the ASL hangar at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.
The company had reportedly only made part payment on the aircraft, hence the registration still showed ASL as the owner.
A local pilot who flew the plane to Anna Regina had told investigators that he departed from the Ogle municipal airstrip with four passengers aboard, namely his wife, his two children and another passenger, a foreigner, whose name was given as John Johnson.
After landing at the abandoned airstrip, the pilot claimed he parked the aircraft and left for a family location some miles away.
The following morning when he returned the aircraft could not be found. And Johnson, who was reportedly closely associated with Fenix Airways, was also missing.
Further investigations revealed that Johnson is the holder of a Guyanese passport and there were documents purporting to show that he is a naturalised Guyanese, but a closer perusal of the documents revealed that the numbers contained on them were not genuine.
Following a missing claim report, the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) alerted neighbouring states Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil, but to date there has been no trace of the aircraft.
The abandoned Anna Regina airstrip is about four miles aback of the town and is bordered with thick bushes on both sides.
A derelict building nearby had served as the booking office for Fenix Airways.
Residents of the town had at the time of the aircraft’s disappearance reported that even though the airstrip was not in use, they had become accustomed to seeing strange small aircraft landing there, or hovering around the area.
And mystery still surrounds the January 24, 2007, discovery of $14M in counterfeit notes found hidden in a barrel left lying at the John Fernandes wharf, in the city.
The money, 13,956 x $1,000 notes and 183 x $500 notes, in numerous piles and hidden among items including pens, towels and tools, was discovered when Customs officials based at the wharf moved to open and inspect the barrel after two years had elapsed and the consignee identified as a Supenaam, Essequibo Coast resident, failed to collect it.
The barrel was shipped to Guyana from London through the Harrison Shipping Company in May, 2006, and was selected for inspection under ‘want-of-entry’, meaning its time for clearance had been long overdue.
Also, in late December 2007, a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) pilot, flying lower than normal during a routine flight, saw an unusual sighting of an illegal airstrip some 80 miles upriver from the Amerindian community of Orealla, and which is believed to have been constructed to facilitate the transshipment of narcotics.
However, by the time ranks of the GDF were flown in, there was evidence that persons who were there had left hurriedly.
The soldiers found a burnt-out aircraft with a Venezuelan flag on it, a still smouldering all-terrain vehicle and a bulldozer which was in the middle of the airstrip.
From what was seen, there appeared to have been extensive construction work at the airstrip which was some 3,600 feet in length, at that time longer than the Ogle aerodrome, and 375 feet in width, wider than the Timehri runway.
However at the time of discovery, only some 1,800 feet of the illegal facility was usable.
And, during a further probe of the surrounding area, the Army troops found a 25-ft trail that led for two miles to the Corentyne River, suggesting that the bulldozer and other equipment might have been transported via the river.
Further investigations into the illegal airstrip led the police to arrest three foreigners,  two Colombians and a Venezuelan, at a city hotel. They were subsequently deported.
The Police had also issued a wanted bulletin for 35-year-old Crabwood Creek businessman who was said to have owned a logging concession in the Crabwood Creek, Corentyne area, and may have had connections with the bulldozer.
The investigators were also seeking to find out who owned the tract of land that was being used for the illegal activity.