The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) on Wednesday apprehended two persons in the Farm community, East Bank Demerara for illegally excavating government reserves.Minister within the Ministry of Communities Keith Scott along with a team from the CH&PA swooped down on the area after receiving reports of the activity. “When we came out here, there were five trucks on the ground, three of them drove away but we got two trucks and a bob-cat, so we are now taking them to the station right now,” Enforcement and Investigation Officer, CH&PA, Lestor Kit told the Government Information Agency. The vehicles apprehended are GPP 4091 and GJJ 4002.
He explained that for the past two weeks, the CH&PA has been receiving information of persons removing the dirt from all the reserves in the Farm/Providence and Covent Garden areas. “They been using bob-cats and trucks and grading up that mud and selling it for $15000 to $20000,” Kit explained. He said that since receiving the report the CH&PA has been looking for these persons but has been unable to apprehend the individuals because, they tend to mostly work in the night, and on the weekends, when the unit is not as active. Kit noted that these persons have been digging on these reserves in some areas to a depth of five feet. He expressed concern that this could lead to flood, in these areas, if it were to rain.
Two held
One of the trucks that was seized in the exercise