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TWELVE Guyanese men who were apparently abducted to Trinidad by the captain of a Trinidad and Tobago cargo boat are to return home today.Mr. Ernie Ross, Honorary Consul in the Guyana Consulate in Trinidad, disclosed this yesterday, stating the the Consulate had intervened on their behalf and that they will be repatriated on an early morning flight from Trinidad . Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the men are to be interviewed shortly after their arrival. The men are loggers who were going into the hinterland for logging operations along the Barama river. The T&T cargo boat, named Adorra, had been hired to take them and logging equipment to a location along the banks of the river.
Instead they ended up in Trinidad.
Meanwhile,after that diversion, the saga of the boat Adorra took another twist when it was discovered that the vessel was renamed ANMETA shortly after its return to Trinidad.
Television footage on CNC3 clearly showed the new name freshly painted on to the boat in the docks at Chaguaramas.
On June 30th last, the captain of the cargo boat, then named Adorra, took the boat into Chaguaramas and told the Trinidad and Tobago Coastguard that he had been forced to flee to Trinidad from Guyana after being shot at by men who became angry when he refused to transport drugs to Trinidad .
The 12 Guyanese made news in Trinidad and Tobago when they appeared on CNC 3 Television on Wednesday and Thursday last week, and expressed anger at their being taken to that country after they had joined the boat with expectations of being taken to Barama in Region 1 (Barima/Waini).
On CNC3 TV, the men had demanded that they be sent home.
One of them had told the CNC 3 TV reporter and the viewers that they would start “behaving bad” if their plight was not quickly addressed.
He said, ”We are Guyanese, not Trinidadians, and we don’t know why he bring we here or what we doing here. Being on this boat is like being in jail. We want to go home.”.
On the same CNC3 television newscast, the captain was seen begging the cameramen not to air the men’s faces on TV since, he said, he feared they would be killed.
The captain had said, “These are innocent men. I am an innocent man too. But we get caught up in something. We didn’t know how big this thing was.”
He had also told the TV crew that some very big people were coming into Trinidad from overseas as part of an international investigation into the incident in Guyana.
The TV reporter however later reported that none of the authorities in the twin-sland republic had confirmed that such investigations were ongoing or were about to take place.
Then crew members and Guyanese on the same newscast denied that any shots were fired at the boat.
The fate of millions of dollars of equipment on board the vessel is still unclear.
The equipment belongs to Forest Enterprises Limited, a Dutch-owned logging company operating in Guyana with head offices in the Netherlands.
A spokesman for the company which had hired the vessel for the trip to Barama said that it had sent a representative to Trinidad and had hired a lawyer over there to ensure that its equipment is brought back to Guyana.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the Guyana police had requested a report on the incident from their counterparts in Trinidad and are awaiting a response.
The vessel had visited Guyana to uplift a shipment of coconut water from producers in the Pomeroon for a company in Trinidad.
On arrival in the Pomeroon,the suppliers however found that it did not have the necessary storage facilities for the shipment, and they refused to hand over same for fear that it would spoil before it reached its destination.
Instead of leaving for Trinidad, the captain of the vessel, identified as Captain Mark Forgenie, remained with his boat and advertised that the vessel was for hire.
And so it was that the boat was hired to take the men and equipment into the Barama.
Instead they ended up in Trinidad.
Meanwhile,after that diversion, the saga of the boat Adorra took another twist when it was discovered that the vessel was renamed ANMETA shortly after its return to Trinidad.
Television footage on CNC3 clearly showed the new name freshly painted on to the boat in the docks at Chaguaramas.
On June 30th last, the captain of the cargo boat, then named Adorra, took the boat into Chaguaramas and told the Trinidad and Tobago Coastguard that he had been forced to flee to Trinidad from Guyana after being shot at by men who became angry when he refused to transport drugs to Trinidad .
The 12 Guyanese made news in Trinidad and Tobago when they appeared on CNC 3 Television on Wednesday and Thursday last week, and expressed anger at their being taken to that country after they had joined the boat with expectations of being taken to Barama in Region 1 (Barima/Waini).
On CNC3 TV, the men had demanded that they be sent home.
One of them had told the CNC 3 TV reporter and the viewers that they would start “behaving bad” if their plight was not quickly addressed.
He said, ”We are Guyanese, not Trinidadians, and we don’t know why he bring we here or what we doing here. Being on this boat is like being in jail. We want to go home.”.
On the same CNC3 television newscast, the captain was seen begging the cameramen not to air the men’s faces on TV since, he said, he feared they would be killed.
The captain had said, “These are innocent men. I am an innocent man too. But we get caught up in something. We didn’t know how big this thing was.”
He had also told the TV crew that some very big people were coming into Trinidad from overseas as part of an international investigation into the incident in Guyana.
The TV reporter however later reported that none of the authorities in the twin-sland republic had confirmed that such investigations were ongoing or were about to take place.
Then crew members and Guyanese on the same newscast denied that any shots were fired at the boat.
The fate of millions of dollars of equipment on board the vessel is still unclear.
The equipment belongs to Forest Enterprises Limited, a Dutch-owned logging company operating in Guyana with head offices in the Netherlands.
A spokesman for the company which had hired the vessel for the trip to Barama said that it had sent a representative to Trinidad and had hired a lawyer over there to ensure that its equipment is brought back to Guyana.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said that the Guyana police had requested a report on the incident from their counterparts in Trinidad and are awaiting a response.
The vessel had visited Guyana to uplift a shipment of coconut water from producers in the Pomeroon for a company in Trinidad.
On arrival in the Pomeroon,the suppliers however found that it did not have the necessary storage facilities for the shipment, and they refused to hand over same for fear that it would spoil before it reached its destination.
Instead of leaving for Trinidad, the captain of the vessel, identified as Captain Mark Forgenie, remained with his boat and advertised that the vessel was for hire.
And so it was that the boat was hired to take the men and equipment into the Barama.
