| According to a leaked US embassy cable dated March 8th, 2006, released last week by controversial website, Wikileaks, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was suspected of being deeply involved in a gun-smuggling case.According to the cable, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, called a meeting with the then US Ambassador Roland Bullen “on short notice” on March 3rd, 2006,Jack Butler Steelers Jersey UK, to discuss the theft of weapons from a GDF warehouse.Luncheon gave the Ambassador a copy of an October 19, 2005 memorandum from himself, as Secretary of the Defence Board, to the Commissioner-General of the Guyana Revenue Authority Khurshid Sattaur.The cable reads: “The memorandum provided customs clearance for the GDF to import five Baretta pistols. These weapons, along with thirty-three AK-47s, disappeared from the GDF warehouse sometime between February 23 and 27 (2006). Luncheon said these pistols were imported by Caribbean Cargo and Package Services (CCPS). CCPS is the same company that imported a shipment containing three firearms that was intercepted February 11,Logan Ryan Patriots Jersey UK, 2006, at Guyana’s international airport.Luncheon’s theory is that the Barettas were never intended for the GDF. Instead, some unknown purchasers of the weapons arranged for the military to import and hold them until a warehouse “theft” could be arranged to get them out. Luncheon expressed deep concern that he did not know how long this could have been going on. He referred repeatedly to the weapon smugglers’ “nexus with the military”.”Luncheon, it said,Matt Ryan Falcons Jersey UK, asked the US Ambassador to provide gun trace information for the five Baretta pistols.The request was sent by the embassy to the US Bureau of Alcohol,Tony Gonzalez Falcons Jersey UK, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to process. ATF revealed that an individual in New Jersey purchased the weapons.Meanwhile, the January 30th,Stephen Gostkowski Patriots Jersey UK, 2006 killing of controversial talk show host, Ronald Waddell, was believed to be in all likelihood a drugs or criminal deal gone sour.Only a partial extract of a cable sent two days after the slaying by Ambassador Bullen, was posted on the Wikileaks website.The US Embassy at the time of Waddell’s killing,Grady Jarrett Falcons Jersey UK, while hearing of three theories, was more inclined to think of the angle of a drugs or a criminal deal gone sour.Waddell was gunned down in front of his home in the Subryanville section of Georgetown,DeAngelo Williams Steelers Jersey UK, seven doors down from the USAID Mission Director’s residence,LaDarius Gunter Packers Jersey UK, at approximately 20:30hrs on the aforementioned date.Waddell hosted a controversial talk show and stood for parliament as a PNCR candidate in the 2001 elections.According to the embassy cable, which was described as sensitive, Waddell was a central figure in organizing post-election violence and was arrested and charged in May 2001 on two counts of sedition for inflammatory statements on the air. The government twice suspended his TV programme for Waddell’s “on-air inflammatory remarks.”The US Embassy said in October 2005 Waddell praised the work of the “Buxton resistance” – referring to armed Afro-Guyanese militants who turned Buxton Village into an armed camp where government security forces feared to enter and who kidnapped post (US Embassy)’s former RSO (Regional Security Officer).“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a diplomatic note to foreign missions condemning the Waddell statement. The most recent suspension was still in force at the time of his death.”The cable also said that the controversial Waddell had been deported from the U.S. fifteen years before his death and had a FBI record.Among the rumors the US Embassy heard shortly after the killing was that the PPP/C government was responsible for the killing as retribution for Waddell’s extreme anti-government stance.“A second rumor is that the opposition PNC/R or its fringe elements perpetrated the killing,Julian Edelman Patriots Jersey UK, hoping that blame falls on the PPP/C. A third rumor, suggests that the killing is gang-related, the result of a drugs or other criminal deal gone sour. In post (US Embassy)’s judgement this is the more likely scenario.” |
