The security forces are still unsure as to the present whereabouts of the country’s most wanted man, Rondell Rawlins but Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr Roger Luncheon said on Thursday that the fugitive was definitely at Christmas Falls two weeks ago.
Up to yesterday the servicemen were still scouring the jungle for the gunmen some of whom hijacked a minibus on the Aroaima trail on Monday and escaped. Asked whether he still thinks the gunmen were in the interior, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud said there was no information to suggest otherwise. He however conceded that the gunmen had cleared Christmas Falls, located some 300 miles up the Berbice River when the Joint Services had thought that they were trapped there. Some of the gunmen had moved from Christmas Falls to Goat Farm some 90 miles away unbeknownst to the servicemen. Persaud said the search continues and ranks would remain on the trail of the gunmen until they are caught.
Meanwhile, speaking at his post-cabinet media briefing on Thursday Luncheon said he was certain that Rawlins was at the criminals’ camp at Christmas Falls, but he admitted that the lawmen might be unaware as to where he is right now.
Government back in February placed a $50M bounty on Rawlins’ head, but the reward has not enticed Guyanese to disclose his whereabouts. “I know he was at the camp, but where he is now I am not sure many people know,” Luncheon commented.
Rawlins and his gang had been running rings around the security forces for the past several months and their latest encounter at Christmas Falls in the Upper Berbice River exposed the security forces’ inability to successfully track them down.
The joint services following their initial confrontation with the gunmen at Christmas Falls on June 6 had insisted that the gunmen were trapped in the dense jungle, however on Monday they found out that some of the men had breached the cordon, trekking more than 90 miles from Christmas Falls to Goat Farm and later hijacked a minibus on the Aroaima trail. Two of the gunmen, 15-year-old Julius Chung and Cecil Ramcharran were shot and killed at Goat Farm during a reported confrontation with the police.
Another teenager who was picked up at Ituni on Monday was charged yesterday with the January 26 murders of 11 people at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara.
On Wednesday the police said that one of the two rifles found on Ramcharran and Chung belong to the army and were used in the Lusignan and Bartica massacres. The lawmen also disclosed that four men accused of harbouring the country’s most wanted man, Rondell Rawlins were arrested in a house in Linden on Tuesday. Up to yesterday the men who were transferred to the city were still in custody. In a press statement issued on Wednesday evening the police disclosed that following investigations, the four men were arrested in a house at Retrieve, Linden, on suspicion of harbouring Rawlins.
Meanwhile, using ballistic tests, police said they were able to link the two AK- 47 rifles recovered from Ramcharran and Chung at Goat Farm, Berbice River, on Monday to the killings at Lusignan on January 26, 2008 and at Bartica on February 17. One of the weapons they said is the property of the Guyana Defence Force. The rifle was stolen during an ambush of a team of soldiers by armed men at Buxton on January 23, 2008, where Corporal Ivor Williams was shot and killed. The police said also that one of the weapons was used at the robbery/murder at Triumph, ECD, on December 16, 2007, where Fazal Hakim and Rajesh Singh were killed. Police had linked the two massacres to the Buxton/ Agricola criminal gang being headed by Rawlins and a diary left behind when police first confronted the gunmen at Christmas Falls two weeks ago reportedly bore details of Rawlins’ planning and executing the massacres for the alleged abduction of his teenager child mother.
The security forces have been severely criticized for their failures to capture all of the gunmen, with one high-ranking military official here saying that based upon the results and reports available the Christmas Falls operation was poorly planned and poorly executed. Luncheon however said that the lawmen had made commendable gains.
Police first encountered the gunmen on June 6 when responding to intelligence reports that Rawlins and his men were hiding out at Christmas Falls some 300 miles up the Berbice River, they descended on the forested area.
Once there they came under fire from around seven men, one of whom was Otis Fifee who 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 have 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, clothing, medical supplies and a Bible.
