Pirates shoot 2 — one missing at sea

ONE MAN was shot and his body thrown overboard, while another wounded in a midnight attack involving Spanish-speaking pirates off the Point Fortin coastline. Up to late yesterday the body of Edmund Francis, 27, who is also a CEPEP worker, who was shot in his chest and thrown overboard, had not resurfaced.

Another fisherman, Peter Phulchan, 28, of Jumbie Bay, Marabella, was shot in his both legs and is warded in a stable condition at the San Fernando General Hospital. Police believe the attack was drug-related. Francis, Phulchan and the captain, Kenneth Maharaj, 26, of Jumbie Bay, also known as “Popolee,” left Jumbie Bay in a  pirogue to fish some five miles off the Point Fortin coastline on Friday night. Around midnight they were attacked by four masked Spanish-speaking gunmen who opened fire on them, injuring Pulchan and Francis. Maharaj was able to rescue Phulchan, bringing the boat and the injured man back to Jumbie Bay. Phulchan’s brother, Naresh, said around 2.30 am Saturday someone told him his brother was shot and he was in the fishing shed to the back of their house. He said when he went there he found his brother bleeding and he took him to the hospital. Point Fortin Police are continuing investigations.