A top security official yesterday said that the criminal infrastructure of the country’s most wanted man, Rondell `Fineman’ Rawlins was crumbling and he expressed optimism that the fugitive and his troops currently ensconced deep in the jungle would be captured.
Up to press time last night the official said police and soldiers were combing the area by air, land and water for around six gunmen including Rawlins who managed to flee with only two of their weapons. All exit routes have been closed and air surveillance by the recently acquired Bell 206 helicopters was being conducted along the Corentyne River and other areas.
Responding to intelligence, the lawmen went into the Christmas Falls area some 300 miles up the Berbice River on Friday, where they came under fire. They responded by killing one of the men. However, the rest of the gang managed to escape leaving behind a cache of arms and ammunition, some of which has been confirmed by police as having been stolen from the Bartica Police station, the night that community came under siege by gunmen. Weapons belonging to Bartica miner Chunilall Baboolall whose business place was attacked and robbed during that incident were also recovered.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday under condition of strict anonymity the official said that “We are certain that `Fineman’ is there with senior lieutenants”. He added that around five to six gunmen might have escaped during the confrontation, but posited that one of them was hurt. “We will capture them and our ranks are dedicated to going after them,” the official said. He noted that from what had been discovered Rawlins and his troops have built up a strong network of community support and intelligence. However, the official said that his criminal infrastructure was crumbling. He pointed to the arrests of a number of the fugitive’s lieutenants, noting this has isolated him.
Meanwhile, the body of the man, shot by the Joint Services was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary yesterday and at least two families went there to see if it was a relative of theirs.
However, after viewing the body they concluded that it was not their relative. Speaking with Stabroek News, one of the women who viewed the body related that the dead man appeared to be older than her relative.
She said that there were gunshot wounds in the man’s chest, shoulder and jaw. She said that the dead man appeared to have been in his late twenties, and sported dreadlocks. She stated that even though her relative had left home two years ago, she would still have known him and the dead man’s height, skin tone, body size and teeth had convinced her that it was not her relative.
“We satisfy now is nah he”, she said.
Desolate
The joint services said in a press release on Saturday that Rawlins and his men were hiding out in a desolate jungle location in the Christmas Falls, Upper Berbice River area. According to the lawmen in 
addition to recovering the weapons they unearthed a diary which provided incontrovertible evidence of Rawlins’ planning and executing of the slaughters at Lusignan and Bartica, taking vengeance for the death of his sister and a number of telephone numbers. Three FN rifles, four shotguns, one (1) .32 revolver, two AK-47 magazines, seven FN rifle magazines, along with 1,159 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition, 143 rounds of 7.62 x 51 ammunition, 10 rounds .38 ammunition, one round of .32 ammunition and 36 12-gauge cartridges were recovered in the desolate jungle area where the men were hiding out.
Police confirmed that the three FN rifles had been stolen from the Bartica Police station and the .32 revolver and two of the shotguns belonged to Babolall. The statement said consequent upon the recent arrest of a number of persons and diligent interrogations and enquiries, around 0700 hrs on Friday, ranks, while on patrol in the Berbice River community, encountered a gang of about six persons. It added that the patrol came under fire, returned fire and a gang member was subsequently killed.
The other gang members who include wanted men ‘Fineman’; Richard Ramcharran called ‘Uncle Willie’; ‘Magic’; and ‘Chung Boy’ among others, escaped down a slope and disappeared into the jungle. Trails of blood suggest that others were injured, the statement added. Police said the men were housed in a location with four buildings in a desolate area in the jungle and had foodstuff to last several weeks in a large kitchen, which also had a gas stove, generator and solar energy. In addition, there were six portable tents, four hammocks, three mattresses, a mini-stereo system, a DVD player, a cell phone, a hand-held radio set, items of clothing, medical supplies and a Bible which were abandoned by the gang,” the Joint Services statement said.
Diary
Asked yesterday about the contents of the diary recovered, the officer said it was not well-organised, noting that the spelling was phonetic. However, he said it did provide details of some planning of the Bartica and Lusignan massacres which claimed the lives of 23 people. According to the official on one of the pages of the diary the writer, noted that he was taking revenge for the mysterious disappearance of Tenisha Morgan, Rawlins’ teenage wife and his child. Next to it were the notes on the Lusignan massacre. There was also a note of the Bartica killings and the murder of Marcyn King, Rawlins’ sister who was gunned down in March on her way home. Asked about the telephone numbers in the diary, the official said they are being serviced by both telephone companies. “We don’t know the numbers, but they are in the system and we will do our analysis,” the official said adding that this will assist them in their investigation.
In an invited comment, Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee said the Joint Services attack on the criminals’ base was as a result of painstaking and consistent intelligence across various communities in this country. He said the successful operation, although limited in target was exactly what he and others had been stressing as the guide to the security forces work. “Operations have to be intelligence-driven and we can see elements of this in that operation,” Rohee told Stabroek News during a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.
The security official who spoke to Stabroek News said that since operation Restore Order was launched following the Lusignan massacre late January, the gunmen were chased out of Buxton and they fled to Linden from where they launched their attack on the Bartica community. The official said after the Bartica slaughter from all appearances the gunmen returned to Linden and had only gone up to Christmas Falls in the last ten days based upon their information.
Applauding the Joint Services’ efforts Rohee told Stabroek News that contrary to the views that were being expressed by many that the security forces did not know who they were looking for and the identities of the men, the fact that they have confronted the criminals is a clear indication that they knew who they were after. “The Joint Services are out there seeking to capture these people who are creating havoc in our country and they need the support of everyone in Guyana,” Rohee declared.
At around 5 pm yesterday when this newspaper spoke to the minister he indicated that the security forces were still combing the area, positing that ranks had locked down many of the exit routes and seemed to have had good cover over them. Rohee also indicated that cognizant of the gunmen’s ability to move across the borders, their counterparts in neighbouring Suriname had been put on alert.
The mysterious gang which it is believed carried out a number of armed attacks including the gruesome slaughter at Lusignan on the morning of January 26 in which 11 men, women and children were mowed down, followed by the attack on Bartica on February 17 in which 12 persons were murdered, has been able to evade capture for sometime now. The authorities believe that Rawlins heads the gang, which has rained terror and sowed fear throughout the country.
So far, 19-year-old James Hyles of Buxton has been charged with the 11 murders at Lusignan while Clebert Reece and Roger Simon of Bartica have been charged with the Bartica killings.