Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn says officials are in receipt of intelligence that suggests some of the guns missing from the Guyana Police Force’s armory are “on the road.”
Benn made the disclosure on Wednesday on the sidelines of an event at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
It was reported that an audit into the Police Force revealed that over 150 firearms vanished under the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government.
The Minister that told reporters that he would have visited the armory in an effort to establish how the guns went missing.
“The investigation is still underway. I did visit the Police Armory today (Wednesday) and the situation there is not encouraging with respect to the storage of the firearms, being able to recognize and retrieve them properly.
“Obviously much more room is needed to store the firearms properly, have them properly labelled and in terms of retrieving them, even though they have a computerized system it have to be fully functional so that it could complement the book system they have there,” he informed.
Benn added that the audit into the armory is not yet completed.
“We know that some of these firearms are on the road and a few have been identified as having come from the police and so when we get more information we will update,” he said.
Late last month, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum had informed this publication that six ranks from the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) were taken into custody as part of the investigation into the disappearance of the firearms.
It is understood that the missing weapons were either seized from criminals and were to be exhibits in cases, or were firearms lodged by private citizens.
Benn had assured that all efforts would be made to track down the firearms.
In the past, guns that have gone missing from the hands of the Joint Services have subsequently been linked to criminal activities.
During the 2018 Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the Lindo Creek massacre, it was revealed that a number of weapons and ammunition which were stolen in February 2006 were later used in the commission of various crimes.
