As security forces continue their mission to capture gunmen including Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins who they believed are trapped in the dense jungle in the Upper Berbice area, a Lethem resident whose name reportedly showed up on the fugitive’s diary had been arrested.
Police yesterday would not confirm why they have arrested a 30-year-old female of Central Lethem, Rupununi since Tuesday although, a senior police officer in the district said it is related to a sensitive security issue in the community. Stabroek News had been told by persons close to the woman that police tracked her down after finding her telephone number on Rawlins’ diary. The woman is currently being detained in the area and is to be transferred to Georgetown soon.
Stabroek News was told that word of the woman’s detention had been circulating in the community, located close to the Brazil border. Sources told this newspaper that the single-parent mother is well known in the Lethem area and lived a relatively comfortable life. She is said to have been frequenting Georgetown over recent years and might have made contact with Rawlins when he was living there in an earlier part of his life.
A prominent resident of Lethem said that Rawlins at one time had lived in Lethem with relatives.
Meanwhile, members of the Joint Services yesterday scoured the Upper Berbice jungle for Rawlins and his gang which included some of his most senior lieutenants. Ranks came upon a part of a firearm abandoned by the gang on Tuesday. Up to press time last night there had been no further development in the search for the gunmen who the joint services believe are trapped in the jungle.
Asked about the search yesterday, Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee said that the gunmen would be caught. He said that he did not believe that they had arrived at the Suriname border, but assured that the security forces in that country had been alerted. Since Saturday the Joint Services had been maintaining that they had covered a large area where the gunmen are currently ensconced, closed off all exit routes and deployed helicopters to conduct surveillance. Rawlins and his men have demonstrated their ability to survive in the jungle. They had come close to being captured many times, but managed on every occasion to slip the police cordon.
Responding to intelligence reports that Rawlins and his troops were hiding out at Christmas Falls some 300 miles up the Berbice River, members of the Joint Services descended on the forested area on Friday. Once there they came under fire from around seven men, one of whom – Otis ‘Mud-Up’ Fifee was shot and killed.
The other six men, including Rawlins however 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.
A top Joint Services official told this newspaper on Sunday that they were certain that `Fineman’ and several of his senior lieutenants were among those who escaped. In addition to recovering the weapons, the lawmen unearthed Rawlins’ diary, which they said provided evidence of the fugitive’s planning and executing of the slaughters at Lusignan and Bartica, taking vengeance for the death of his sister. They also found a number of telephone numbers.
The security forces had also discovered that the men were housed in an area with four buildings. They 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 all abandoned.
