Investigators are said to be hot on the trail of a number of persons whose names and numbers have showed up in Rondell Rawlin’s diary which was abandoned when lawmen engaged his gang of seven at Christmas Falls in the Upper Berbice River last Friday.
Police yesterday were still grilling a female resident of Lethem who they believe could provide vital information regarding the whereabouts of Rawlins and his gang. Up to press time last night a senior police officer close to the investigation said that there had been no further development in the mission to capture the men, who the joint services believe are still trapped in the area.
As days have elapsed since the men escaped with no further sighting, observers are coming around to accepting that they might have skipped the security forces’ cordon. Stabroek News had been told that the woman might have been the last person to have made contact with Rawlins, whose diary revealed notes on the Lusignan and Bartica killings and also plans to avenge his murdered sister, Marcyn King and his teenage, child mother, Tenisha Morgan who had gone missing.
Stabroek News was told that the joint services have begun verifying the telephone numbers that appeared in the diary as well as the names of persons. This so far has led to investigators placing a few calls to these numbers, but some of the phones are turned off.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud when contacted yesterday would only say that the search continues for the gunmen. He also confirmed that the woman is still being detained at Lethem. Several questions are being raised as to why the joint services allowed the gunmen to escape despite apparently getting very close to them. One letter writer to this newspaper yesterday questioned whether the joint services had put to work their tracker dogs, which he felt were necessary in this stage of the operation to capture the men. Senior joint services sources had told this newspaper that the army’s two Bell 206 helicopters were deployed in the area and these were conducting air reconnaissance, while other law enforcement ranks were deployed on boat and land.
Meanwhile, reports out of Central Lethem, Rupununi yesterday indicated that family and friends of the 30-year-old woman in custody had been staying far from her, fearful that they too could be arrested. “They are not taking any chance…some of them even have left the area,” a prominent resident of the community told Stabroek News. This newspaper made contact with one of the woman’s friends, who confirmed that she was still in the police lock-ups. When Stabroek News had first contacted the police on Wednesday a senior police officer in the district said the woman was detained in relation to a sensitive security issue in the community. Lethem, which is close to the Brazil border is said to be a transshipment point for drugs and the arms trade between the two countries.
Security experts believe that most of the illegal firearms on the streets today are sourced from Brazil and criminal gangs such as the one being headed by Rawlins would need contacts in the hinterland community to facilitate his trade. Since Friday the closest the security forces came to producing any tangible leads of the gunmen is when they stumbled on a part of a firearm abandoned by the gang on Tuesday.
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.
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.
