Caution - dead bodies -> horrific Tuesday night 

INVESTIGATORS were yesterday checking leads that the horrific Tuesday night slaying of three persons at Agricola on the East Bank Demerara may be linked to the mystery aircraft found on a remote Guyana airstrip two Saturdays ago.

Heavy gunfire reverberated and flashes from the constant firing lit up the night sky as gunmen cordoned off a street in the village and set about their grisly mission.

They left behind three dead, including the son of former national boxer Caesar Barrow, David Barrow, also called `Gurple’, and his 17-year-old girlfriend Shamika Boyce, known as `Girlie’.

Another man identified as `Yankee’ was also shot dead in the murderous raid.

Police yesterday said they found a quantity of cocaine and spent shells at the scene.

Sources said investigators were probing links that the execution was triggered by an apparent botched cocaine drop which led to the abandonment of a small single-engine Cessna 206 aircraft at the Kwapau airstrip in the Mazaruni two Saturdays ago.

The three were executed by gunmen at Caesar's Second Street, Agricola home which he shared with the teen. It was not immediately clear what `Yankee’ was doing there and why he was shot.

A cousin of one of the deceased said she was sitting on the bridge in front of Caesar's yard with some friends around 23:00 h when three hooded men armed with guns and a cutlass came up and demanded that they remain quiet.

"'Y'all shut y'all mouth and don't move'," one of the men barked, she related.

The still visibly shaken woman said they asked about a man who had just walked into the yard and one of them ran behind him and ordered him too to join the growing group.

She said she was looking at one of the men when he turned to her and asked, "Like you want to say something?"

This order was followed by rapid gunfire then silence, she said.

After the shooting, the one in command repeated the order to fire and again there was rapid gunfire.

The witness said that after the second wave of shots, the man asked his partners, "What happen deh?" to which the two replied "Eh Eh!"

The man on the bridge then asked if he should come and again the men replied in the affirmative.

The man then told the captive group not to move and proceeded to the back of the yard where Caesar's house is located.

They shouted to residents to turn off their lights and remain in their houses, he said.

He said one resident attempted to come outside and was asked by one of the men, "Where you going? Go back inside”.

A car which was coming into the street was shot at as one of the men told the driver to get away from the scene.

No one knew what the gang was up to until silence descended after about half an hour, villagers said.

The men in Caesar's yard made good their escape through a gap in the zinc sheet fence aback of the victim's house which leads into Third Street, witnesses said.

Caesar was beheaded and his head which was some distance away from his body lay near Yankee's bullet-ridden corpse.

Bullets were sprayed around the house and the screen of a TV was shattered.

David Caesar's mother, Agnes Barrow, said she does not know why anyone would have wanted to kill her son who she described as "a man of few words."

The Kaieteur News newspaper yesterday reported that the third victim was David Johnson, a well-known resident of the village.

Johnson was, however, was up to press time last night, alive and well.

A cousin of Boyce, known as Jeff, was shot dead by police in Buxton during the 2002 crime wave.

United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records show that the small aircraft found here was owned by and registered to CAVICO Aircraft Sales Incorporated in Florida.

Local investigators have said they expect Interpol, the international police organisation, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were following up on these leads.

The mystery aircraft is widely believed to have been used in a cocaine airdrop operation and sources said DEA agents checked the plane last week after it was flown under Army escort to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, where it is under tight security.

The FAA records the Chronicle was able to access indicate that the last known address of the Cessna 206 aircraft is CAVICO Aircraft Sales Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The records also show that the aircraft was registered to the company.

According to the FAA records, the original registration of the mystery aircraft found abandoned on the remote Kwapau, Mazaruni airstrip is N 3477Y. The model is U206G.

Investigators thought the single-engine aircraft was registered in Venezuela when it was discovered on the airstrip March 19.

However, at a news conference last week, Police Commissioner Winston Felix said Guyana had asked Interpol to help it trace the aircraft.

He said local police have asked Interpol, the Venezuelan authorities and some liaison officers in Venezuela and other narcotic agencies operating around Latin America and the Caribbean to assist in the investigation.

At that time, Felix reported that Interpol had advised that the “aircraft is not known to them”.

It is understood that the aircraft was registered in Florida and was never ‘de-registered’ from the U.S.

The DEA is known to be closely watching narco-trafficking in Guyana which the U.S. Government has confirmed is a transshipment point for South American cocaine destined for North America, Europe and the Caribbean.

The mystery aircraft has a specially modified drop door known to be fitted on aircraft cocaine rings use for drug drops.

Meanwhile, police are still hunting two men – one of them a member of the Police Force – as investigations continue into the discovery of the mystery aircraft.

Wanted bulletins were issued Thursday for Police Constable Ryan Gomes, 38, of 58 Welcome Street, Rosignol and Lindy Avenue, Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara; and Romel Clarke, also called Romel McKenzie and Romel Sinclair, of 106 Garnett Street, Campbellville, Georgetown.

Two other suspects held in the probe were last week put on an identification parade.

Thursday, March 31, 2005