Pirates rob fishermen of catch, other items totalling $1.2M
POLICE in Berbice are investigating separate piracy  attacks allegedly committed earlier this week on two fishing vessels, just two miles off the Bush Lot  foreshore on the Corentyne coast, during which period some $1.268M worth of articles were stolen. Captain Parmanand  Buffit  alias ‘Toe’,  of Letter Kenny Village, reported that whilst in company with his crew members, namely Sanjay Busjit, ‘Fineman’, ‘Bam’, and ‘Boyo’, as they were catching fish at Bush Lot Village, about two-and-a-half nautical miles out at sea, he noticed a white and red boat quickly approaching his vessel.
Buffit said the pirates moored their vessel alongside his boat, which  measured approximately thirty feet in length.
According to the seasoned fisherman, he observed seven bandits within, five were masked, and all of whom were dressed in dark-coloured jerseys.
Buffit recalled that one of the men was armed with a 16-gauge shot-gun, while the others who invaded his boat had cutlasses and sticks which they used to intimidate him and his crew, whilst removing the catch of sixty Snappers, and one hundred and forty five Trouts.
After removing the catch of fishes, the pirates also removed the 45 Horse Power Yamaha engine on the boat, valued $500,000, before escaping and leaving their victims adrift in the Atlantic Ocean.
Buffit said the pirates also took Snapper glue, twenty-five gallons of gasoline, and engine lead totalling $1,113,000.
Meanwhile, another fisherman Mahasehwar Deonauth known as ‘Wagon’ of Crabwood Creek, recalled the April 9 attack , when he – along with his five-member crew – were robbed by masked men who discharged a ‘round’ in the air before ordering the fishermen into the pirates’ boat. They were then taken to the ‘fishing pen’ where they were held captive.
However, Deonauth said the boat that was being used by the pirates was actually a boat belonging to one Roypen Mootain, who had lost his vessel to pirates earlier in the month.
But that boat, he observed, was taking-in sea water, as it had sprung leaks, and as such the pirates removed its engine, placed it unto their boat (one used by Deonauth and his crew), before leaving the previously used vessel to sink.
The Captain, along with his crew, were placed into another  boat and left to drift, before the thieves escaped with  a hundred pounds of Trout, glue, and twenty-nine gallons of gasoline, totalling $155,000.