Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 12, 2008 News
…no more than a day ahead of security forces
The Joint Services ranks pursuing gunmen in the Christmas Falls area are convinced that the men are still in the general location.
This was based on signs that the fleeing gunmen are breaking trails and heading in a southerly direction further into the dense jungle.
The security forces are convinced that, should the men head further south, they will be faced with even more hostile terrain, and it will be almost a miracle if they survive.
According to source, the fleeing bandits, including wanted man Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins, are about a day ahead of the hunting party.
The source could not say if the men, who are believed to be about six in number, are still together or have split up.
He explained that the bandits will have to travel about 100 miles in thick jungle before they could reach any form of civilisation.
The source said that the Joint Services will remain in the area for however long it takes to capture the bandits or retrieve their bodies.
And Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee told this newspaper that he is cautiously optimistic that the security forces will come out successful in the present operation.
He based his caution on what he described as some complexities that have arisen because of the terrain in which the security forces are operating.
He, however, said that at the end of it all, capturing the gang and controlling the crime situation will end successfully in the long run.
“They (bandits) are without food, without clothing, and no communication. The Joint Services are better trained and equipped to deal with this kind of terrain. The gunmen are on a survival run. The odds are that they will not survive,” Minister Rohee posited.
Last Friday, ranks from the Joint Services swooped down on the gang at their hideout some 300 miles up the Berbice River.
During the confrontation, 21-year-old Otis Fiffee, called Mud Up, was killed while the ranks believe that they wounded others.
Police say they saw blood along the trail the gunmen used.
The ranks recovered three FN rifles, four shotguns, and a .32 revolver; two AK-47 magazines, seven FN rifle magazines, and several rounds of ammunition from the gunmen’s well-stocked hideout.
According to a statement, the three FN rifles were stolen from the Bartica Police Station during the armed attack on that community on February 17, 2008.
The .32 revolver and two of the shotguns were stolen from the home of Bartica miner Chunilall Babulall.
The Joint Services ranks were said to have also found a diary which provided “incontrovertible evidence” of Rawlins’s planning and execution of the killings at Lusignan and Bartica.
The Police say that the wanted man also planned to take vengeance for the death of his sister, Marcyn King, who was shot dead as she was returning home from her place of employment, on March 10 last.
According to the statement, the diary also contained several telephone numbers.
The officer confirmed that no AK-47 assault rifle, the weapon of choice for the gang, was found. This suggested that those who fled the hideout must have taken those weapons with them.
But there are reports that most of the fleeing men might be unarmed.
There are reports that there might have been more success if the Police had involved other sections of the Joint Services in the initial stages of the operation last Friday.
Kaieteur News understands that the initial security forces’ party comprised six ranks from the Tactical Services Unit; four from the Criminal Investigations Department, including Crime Chief Seelall Persaud; and two other persons.
It was explained that this decision was taken to eliminate any compromising of the operation.
Neither the special unit set up by the Joint Services to hunt down the gang nor the army’s Special Forces were involved in the initial operation.
When asked about the Police action to exclude the Joint Services, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said that the results are the most important thing, and those who are questioning the modus operandi are ‘sour pusses’.
“The fact of the matter is that there was some success after weeks of painstaking intelligence. People would have been happy if all (bandits) were captured, but it is only a matter of time. It is merely speculative to believe that, if others had gone there, a different result would have been obtained,” Rohee said.
The Joint Services are maintaining that all the exit points have been cut off, and Suriname authorities have been alerted in the event that the bandits try to enter that country by way of the Berbice River.
LISTEN HOW JAGDEO WILL MAKE ALL GUYANESE RICH!!!
Apr 24, 2024
Round 2 GFF Women’s League Division One Kaieteur Sports – The Guyana Police Force FC on Saturday last demolished Pakuri Jaguars FC with a 17 – 0 goal blitz at the Guyana Football...Kaieteur News – Just recently, the PPC determined that it does not have the authority to vitiate a contract which was... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Waterfalls Magazine – On April 10, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]