Released on bail fishermen claim wrongful detention
FIVE fishermen who were arrested last Sunday off the mouth of the Pomeroon River, in connection with a piracy attack on a fishing boat in the Cozier area, were released on Wednesday. Police at Charity Station let them go on $10,000 bail each, after some 72 hours in custody. The men were not charged but required to report back to the station on Thursday.
Captain of the crew who were detained, Prem Lall Singh nicknamed ‘Fine Man’, of Sparta, said he and his men are innocent hard working fishermen who venture on the high seas and catch fish to help feed the nation.
He said his boat was recently contracted and had been on its second trip at sea when he was accused of being involved in the pirate assault on another fishing boat.
Singh, who has some 20 years experience, said he had just completed a ‘drag’ with his seine, in some four fathoms of water off Better Success foreshore, also on Essequibo Coast, when he noticed his seine had rolled up. So he decided to sail into calm waters, near the Moruca River Mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, to look after it when two speedboats approached.
Ransomed
He said he was mending the net when a man in one of the boats, whom he recognised as a fishing vessel owner, asked if he had seen any other boat in the area because his boat was “ransomed”.
According to Singh, about 45 minutes later, the two speedboats returned with several policemen cranking their guns pointed towards him and his crew and ordering them to sit on their seine.
He said the owner of the ransomed boat said he was informed, by his workers, that the boat which attacked them was painted in blue, white and red, the colours of his boat.
Singh said three of his workmen were placed in one of the speedboats and taken to Charity while another assisted him to drive.
He said they were taken to the station and locked up while his boat was impounded with 1,800 pounds fish, 6,000 pounds ice, some $30,000 worth of groceries, a gas cylinder and two drums of gasolene (90 gallons).
Innocently
Singh said he and his crew lost five days of work and suffered much losses and, although he appreciates all the government is doing to stop piracy, the wrong persons should not be locked up innocently for something they have not done.
He said the Coast Guard is doing a good job and he is supportive of the establishment of the floating Guyana Defence Force (GDF) base at the Pomeroon River Mouth.
He said, during the time he was in detention, his wife had to go and bail his boat as the ice in it was melting.
He disclosed that he took loans to set up his fishing business to sustain his family.
The other crew members, Bharrat Bridgemohan, Trevor Moore, Khemraj Gildarie and Manniram Mohanroop, also declared their innocence and said they should not be branded as pirates by the public.
The men are now asking who will compensate them for their loss and the days they were incarcerated wrongfully.