Guardia Nacional seize boat, 3 held

The trip came after Mayaro police confirmed that the boat equipment seized by the Guardia Nacional comprised engines and three men were arrested in Perdanales.

Newsday was told that a pirogue, three 75-horse-power boat engines and an engine cover were seized by the Guardia Nacional in Venezuela. The local fishermen along with a Mayaro police officer left for Perdanales yesterday to see if the items were the ones taken in Wednesday’s early morning robbery drama.

Six 75 horse-power boat engines and a 27-foot pirogue were stolen from the fishermen by four armed bandits during a violent attack on the seven fishermen at the Guayaguayare fishing port. The stolen items have been valued at over $250,000.

Police said yesterday that local authorities were contacted by Interpol who relayed information that the boating equipment was seized. Mayaro police said Guardia Nacional officers intercepted a pirogue in the waters off the coastal fishing village of Perdanales on Thursday.

According to police reports, members of the Guardia Nacional were patrolling near a mangrove at Perdanales when they observed the pirogue with three men on board. On approaching the boat, the men — two sporting “dreadlock” hairstyles, jumped into the water and swam to the mangrove where they tried to escape. However, they were subsequently arrested. On Wednesday, the fishermen were attacked by the bandits who were armed with guns and knives.

They were savagely beaten by the bandits who threatened to shoot them. When the bandits were unable to cut the lock on a metal door to a room where boat engines and nets are stored, they broke louvres and entered the building.

After loading the engines in one of the fishing boats moored nearby, several of the bandits boarded the boat and escaped on the high seas while the others escaped in a car. The battered and bruised fishermen later complained about the police’s slow reaction to their calls for help.