The Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday said that after intensive professional work over recent weeks intelligence sources have revealed "a clear pattern of criminal activities designed to create a climate of instability in the country". As a result it is urging citizens to be more alert and conscious of their personal security and that of their homes.

According to the release, earlier this year, sources had reported that "questionable characters had been recruited to carry out criminal activities during the course of the protest demonstrations, utilizing the enabling environment, which was being created".

It said that further information has suggested that these raids and attacks on householders, taxi drivers and members of the public are "aimed at selected targets".

It is also implicated sections of the media as being part of the design to strengthen the enabling environment by their readiness "to give views which are intended to reduce the resolve of the Police to fight crime and to court certain responses on their programmes." It said that part of the criminal design that has been revealed "involves that targetting of taxi drivers, leading to theft of vehicles which are used to perpetrate crimes."

"Unarmed and defenceless citizens who are unappreciative of the need to tighten up on personal and household security procedures are also targets."

The last few months have seen scores of attacks on taxi drivers, the hijacking of their vehicles and the use of the vehicles for robberies and getaways. There have also been numerous armed robberies where householders have been brutally beaten. In several cases, victims were shot to death when they posed no danger to the bandits. Cases were also seen where relatively poor homes were attacked by bandits.

Illustrative of this design according to the Police are the 11 armed robberies committed between June 21-27, in various parts of the country. During these attacks more than $1.7 million in cash, jewellery and other household articles were taken.

The robberies listed includes the June 21 robbery at the Lamaha Park Squatting Area; the June 22 attack on a family at Agriculture Road, East Coast Demerara; the June 23 robbery of a family at Non Pariel; the June 24 robberies of at Queenstown, Corriverton and at the Success, East Coast Demerara; the June 25 robberies at Houston and Brickery, East Bank Demerara and La Retraite, West Bank Demerara; the June 26 robbery at Century Palm Gardens in the city and the June 27 robberies Lama Avenue in the city and at Paradise, East Coast Demerara.