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During his presentation at the launch of the Guyana Police Force annual Christmas policing plan on Wednesday, Blanhum further noted that the force seized 1,425 kilograms (3,141 lbs) of cannabis, the largest quantity confiscated within the past five years.

Out of these seizures, he said a total of 188 persons were charged and placed before the court.

“Cannabis seizures were due to daily operations conducted targeting known drug blocks, check points and choke points and this led to the highest cannabis seizure in five years,” Blanhum said.

There were no reports of kidnapping or piracy.

In addition, Blanhum said 14 police ranks were charged for various offences including corruption, simple larceny, conspiracy to obstruct the course of justice, assault and trafficking in narcotics.

The decrease in serious crime has been attributed to the various policing strategies adapted over this period such as intelligence led policing, capacity building, use and handling of confidential informants and importantly, the utilisation of CCTV monitoring room.

“We continued with our roadblocks at strategic locations across Guyana, we continued to actively engage members of the public and also we receive feedback from them as to how we can improve our service delivery,” Blanhum said.

He added, “We have our anti-crime patrols on a 24 hours basis, we have deployed ranks based on our analysis…the command centre has been able to provide real time information to our patrol ranks and investigators.”

the attack on a taxi driver at Ruby backdam.

Police Headquarters reported that the victim, Shon Smith, visited the Parika Police Station on Tuesday at about 13:45 hrs “but was unable to stand up due to the injuries to his neck sustained from the attack allegedly carried out by five Venezuelan nationals.”

According to the Police, Smith was shown photographs of 41 male Venezuelans but could not identify his attackers.

“An entry was later made in the station diary to that effect. As such, Police are continuing the search for the suspects.”

Smith, a 46-year-old taxi driver of Namyrck Parika, was attacked and severely beaten on November 12, at about 01:45 hrs.

According to the victim, he was driving along the Parika main road when he was stopped by the five Venezuelan men, who hired him to take them to Ruby backdam.

Smith told the police that while proceeding in Ruby backdam, one of the men pulled out a knife and started to chop him on his hand. The driver said he stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road and exited the car.  The men also exited the vehicle and started to beat him and chop him, after which they ran away.

According to Jagmohan Singh, a 49-year-old farmer, at about 02:00 hrs, he was awoken from his sleep by a loud noise. He checked outside when he saw the victim lying down under his house shed with blood running down his body.

As a result, he immediately alerted his brother-in-law who, who took the victim into his car and transported him to the Leonora Cottage Hospital.