Lawernce Vanlewin, who was arrested after a shootout on September 13 following the $50m heist at the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six, was yesterday remanded to prison after he was charged with simple larceny in another matter.
Vanlewin, also known as ‘Larry’, appeared at the New Amsterdam Magis-trate’s Court before Magis-trate Renita Singh where it was stated that on Thurs-day, September 7 at 55 Stanleytown he stole $300,000, and a quantity of clothing and sneakers valued $200,000, a total of $500,000, property of Damion Southwell.
An unpresented Vanlewin was not required to plead to the charge. Bbail was refused and he was remanded to prison. He will return to court on November, 1 for report.
Based on information gathered, prior to the RDC robbery, police had released a wanted bulletin for Vanlewin on the matter he was charged for. As of yesterday no one had been charged in connection with the RDC robbery.
On September, 13, bandits during the wee hours stormed the Region Six compound and carted off the $50m in cash which was to be paid to part-time workers.
Hours after the robbery, police cornered what is suspected to be the getaway car at Heathburn Village, East Bank Ber-bice, during which one of the suspects identified as 19-year-old Kevin Vanlewin, a farmer, from Sandhill, Berbice, was shot and killed. Three of the suspects escaped on foot in the direction of the Canje River, while the driver of the car, Tarrique Pollard also known as ‘Tari’, a 33-year-old taxi driver from Mahaicony, was arrested at the location. A firearm was also recovered in the car.
The driver of the car was eventually released and sources had said that he had said that he was hijacked by the armed men.
After the shoot-out, the police were able to arrest one of the suspected bandits who had escaped on foot. Stabroek News was told that Lawrence Vanlewin who was arrested near the Heathburn location, sustained what is suspected to be gunshot injuries. Lawrence is the uncle of the deceased suspect, Kevin.
The Guyana Police Force had confirmed that Lawrence was hospitalized at the Georgetown Public Hospital “for alleged gunshot injuries.” This newspaper was told, that after being arrested the suspect was taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospi-tal after which he was transferred to the city hospital for surgery.
Over the weekend Lawrence was released from the hospital.
As of yesterday afternoon, police had not made any further arrest into the RDC robbery probe nor did it seem that they had located any of the stolen funds.
