TWELVE persons are in police custody including a woman who appears to be the owner of the vehicle suspected to have been used when a grenade was lobbed outside Kaieteur News at Saffon Street last Saturday evening .Police reports disclosed that detectives are convinced that very soon they will be able to find the mastermind behind the recent attack. Investigators are trying to put the puzzle together as everyone in custody is pointing fingers at the other amidst conflicting reports. However, most of the persons in custody agree on a key individual whom police are seeking.
Police had approached the court Wednesday for an extension of the 72 hours in which they may hold suspects during the probe. The first person who was taken into custody was a 19-year-old driver. That car was later found abandoned at Norton Street and Mandela Avenue. He has reportedly confessed to being the driver of Toyota Spacio, PSS 5252 from which someone tossed a fragmentation grenade at Kaieteur News publisher Glenn Lall’s vehicle Saturday last. The driver reportedly abandoned the vehicle after crashing into an elderly woman near Norton Street and Mandela Avenue, shortly after the device was thrown.

Police Tuesday morning arrested six men and seized the motorcar. The police appear to be close to identifying the mastermind and motive behind the attack. When the device was thrown, Lall and several staffers were in close proximity outside the Kaieteur News premises, where a wake was being held for Kaieteur News Assistant Editor Dale Andrews. Police said 15 detectives are working on the case to ensure that all ends are covered.
Video footage from a Kaieteur News CCTV camera shows the grey-coloured vehicle, heading north, slowing as it approached Lall’s vehicle. The occupants then accelerated after the device was thrown. The grenade, discovered by staff of the newspaper, did not explode although it was later discovered that the pin had been removed.
The police later exploded the device at the Kitty seawall. United Kingdom High Commissioner James Quinn, government officials and the Guyana Press Association (GPA), among others, have condemned the act.