GEORGETOWN — The Guyana police have accused two local television stations of acting irresponsibly in broadcasting a videotape involving an escaped criminal from the Georgetown Prison who, the lawmen said, has engaged in lies and slander.

The furore over the broadcast by VCT Channel 28 and WRHM Channel 7 last Thursday night of escaped prisoner, Andrew Douglas, dressed in army fatigue and holding an AK-47 rifle, has also led to calls to the newly-created bipartisan Advisory Committee on Broadcasting (ACB) for revoking of the operational licences of the two stations and for the police to trace the origin of the tape.

Neither of the two stations had responded yesterday to criticisms by the police or the governing People’s Progressive Party for what the police are treating as an unprecedented development in local broadcasting and at a period of heightened social tension with armed criminals terrorising citizens in various communities.

Douglas is one of five armed and dangerous criminals who escaped from the Georgetown Prison on February 23, killing a prison warder and seriously wounding another in their bid for freedom. They have since been implicated in the deaths of two police officers and a series of car hijackings and armed robberies.

He was deported from neighbouring Suriname, according to the police who had laid a series of criminal charges against him and won convictions in the court. But Douglas claimed in the videotape that he was championing the cause of “Blacks” being discriminated against by the East Indian-dominated PPP Government.

In a statement to the media, Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald challenged the accuracy of the claims by Douglas; accused him of “disgusting, slanderous” allegations and was particularly sharp in criticising the two television stations.

“We condemn this attempt” (by the stations), he said, “to glorify a notorious criminal who is wanted in Guyana for a series of indictable offences, including murder. It does not augur well for our society. It is not good for the country for a criminal to go on television and make a statement admitting he ‘is a bandit’.”

In its statement, the governing PPP said it was significant to note that the two televison stations “bear the initials of Tony Veira and Rex McKay, two well-known supporters of the (opposition) People’s National Congress.

But on the night of the broadcast on VCT’s Evening News, the station said it had no hand in its production, that the videotape was delivered in a plastic bag by someone unknown to the staff. It also said that in broadcasting the tape it was in no way condoning criminal acts.

This claim, however, has not been accepted by the police who are currently investigating the origin of the videotape and have already questioned employees of the stations.

For its part, the Advisory Committee on Broadcasting, which has overall responsibility for allocating frequencies to TV stations and can revoke licences as it deems justified in accordance with existing regulations, said in a brief statement:

“The ACB wishes to remind the public that the law is clear, not merely in Guyana but worldwide, that any information about a person declared ‘wanted’ by the police must be communicated to the authorities as soon as possible. The same goes for any contact which might have been made with the wanted person, whether or not, that the wanted person initiated the contact…”

Four persons, including a woman, are to reappear in court later this week for being alleged accomplices in criminal acts involving at least four of the five escaped prisoners.