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- Jun 9, 2008
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Police and soldiers spent a day in the forest digging holes, sleeping on leaves and fending off mosquitoes, in a misguided search for graves containing the bones of dead people.
The search party went at midday on Monday.
They blocked the road leading into the small village of Maingot Road, Moruga.
More soldiers joined the search after nightfall, hopping off a helicopter that landed in the bush.
They cut a trail snaking for half a mile through the tangle of balisier, banana and cocoa trees, investigating mounds of dirt that turned out to be caused by fallen trees.
The search was concentrated in a clearing where they found three water-filled holes.
There was evidence that the officers dug into the holes and into a nearby hillside.
But villager Gerald Sotti said the holes were dug into springs to collect water for gardening.
Police said the only gardening being done was for a marijuana crop.
Police went to the village based on a tip from a Remand Yard prisoner, the Express was told.
That person was taken to the site by the search team to lead them to the spot, which could only be reached by crossing rivers and streams.
Southern Division officers said they had no knowledge of the search and were not consulted.
Last year, there was a similar futile search for the remains of kidnapped businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman. For five days, SAUTT drained a pond in Longdenville before giving up.
The search was triggered by the discredited information of a low level criminal informant.
This latest search involved Special Anti Crime Unit, Homicide officers and several special police units.
They set up a base at the St Mary's Police Post and sealed off the village.
Sotti said: "They came. They went, and nobody told us anything."
Among the searchers, residents said, were men dressed in Islamic wear, who performed prayers on the road holding their weapons.
He said if killers had buried victims in the forest, they had two other roads they could have used to get to the Figaree Estate.
Not far from the search site, a family waited for word on any discovery. Chunia Ramlal believes her two sons were killed and buried in the forest. Ramlal lives at nearby Figaree Road. In June 2003 her son Chris Ramlal, 37, walked into the forest and disappeared. His brother, Kishan Chabilal, 23, went in search of him nine days later and has not been seen since.
The search team left at lunch yesterday, leaving behind a shovel and bunch of bananas.
The search party went at midday on Monday.
They blocked the road leading into the small village of Maingot Road, Moruga.
More soldiers joined the search after nightfall, hopping off a helicopter that landed in the bush.
They cut a trail snaking for half a mile through the tangle of balisier, banana and cocoa trees, investigating mounds of dirt that turned out to be caused by fallen trees.
The search was concentrated in a clearing where they found three water-filled holes.
There was evidence that the officers dug into the holes and into a nearby hillside.
But villager Gerald Sotti said the holes were dug into springs to collect water for gardening.
Police said the only gardening being done was for a marijuana crop.
Police went to the village based on a tip from a Remand Yard prisoner, the Express was told.
That person was taken to the site by the search team to lead them to the spot, which could only be reached by crossing rivers and streams.
Southern Division officers said they had no knowledge of the search and were not consulted.
Last year, there was a similar futile search for the remains of kidnapped businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman. For five days, SAUTT drained a pond in Longdenville before giving up.
The search was triggered by the discredited information of a low level criminal informant.
This latest search involved Special Anti Crime Unit, Homicide officers and several special police units.
They set up a base at the St Mary's Police Post and sealed off the village.
Sotti said: "They came. They went, and nobody told us anything."
Among the searchers, residents said, were men dressed in Islamic wear, who performed prayers on the road holding their weapons.
He said if killers had buried victims in the forest, they had two other roads they could have used to get to the Figaree Estate.
Not far from the search site, a family waited for word on any discovery. Chunia Ramlal believes her two sons were killed and buried in the forest. Ramlal lives at nearby Figaree Road. In June 2003 her son Chris Ramlal, 37, walked into the forest and disappeared. His brother, Kishan Chabilal, 23, went in search of him nine days later and has not been seen since.
The search team left at lunch yesterday, leaving behind a shovel and bunch of bananas.
