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Guyana police officer shot and injured by gunmen

Published:Wednesday | November 14, 2018 | 12:00 AM

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana police say they have launched an investigation into a shooting incident near the Venezuelan border that left a police officer injured from gunshot wounds yesterday.

The police said a wooden vessel ferrying seven passengers from Eteringbang to Macapa, in the Cuyuni River, was fired upon by a group of armed men standing on the Venezuelan side of the border.

The police said that Corporal Quincy Alexander, who was one of the passengers, was struck by a bullet in his lower back.

They said the 38-year-old police officer has been transferred to hospital in the capital. It described his situation as “serious but stable”.

Guyana and Venezuela have a long standing border dispute and the matter has been brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after the United Nations failed in its attempt to reach an amicable solution.

The Cuyuni River is a South American river and a tributary of the Essequibo River. It rises in the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela where it descends northward to El Dorado, and turns eastward to meander through the tropical rain forests of Guyana.