Guyana police/soldiers kill 3, arrest 2 in bank robberies

Police and soldiers caught up with the alleged bandits on Saturday after they pursued them into the jungle. Authorities recovered three canisters containing an undisclosed amount of money and expected to make more arrests as they closed in on the remaining ten robbers, said Lt Col. Brewster Lovell, an army spokesman.

Heavily armed gunmen simultaneously robbed the two banks — Republic Bank Limited and Demerara Bank — on Friday in Rose Hall, a town in a sugar- and rice-producing region 85 miles (135 kilometres) southeast of Georgetown. Rising violent crime has become the central issue in the campaign leading up to Guyana’s August 28 general elections.

Last Tuesday, gunmen killed four workers at a newspaper printing plant in Georgetown, and in April, the agriculture minister and two of his siblings were slain at his home. No arrests have been made in either case, and authorities were investigating if the killings were carried out by the same gangs.

Authorities also recovered four weapons from the robbers — three of which were rifles stolen from Army headquarters in Georgetown in February, the army said. They will test them to see if they are linked to other crimes. (AP)