One bandit a member of ‘Fineman’ gang, say police
One of captured bandits who committed the daring daylight robbery on a GEB security vehicle on Thursday during which a $17.2M GuySuCo payroll was stolen, has been identified as a member of the Rondell ‘Fineman’ Rawlins gang and linked to the February 17 Bartica massacre, the police said yesterday.
Meanwhile as investigations continue into the heist, three shotguns including the two stolen from GEB security guards were recovered at the Nismes riverside, West Bank Demerara (WBD) on Friday.
One of the weapons that was recovered during the armed confrontation at Goed Fortuin during which Leon Dundas was shot dead, belongs to a cambio dealer who was the victim of an armed robbery last year.
The three shotguns and ammunition that were recovered at the Nismes riverside on Friday. (Police photo).
Police disclosed in a statement yesterday that during their investigations into the armed robbery of the payroll at Stanleytown, WBD, ranks recovered three 12-gauge shotguns along with sixteen (16) matching cartridges at the riverside at Nismes.
Two of them have been confirmed as being those stolen from the GEB security guards during the robbery.
The release further said that the 9mm Glock pistol recovered by the police during the armed confrontation with four of the perpetrators at ‘Old Road’ Goed Fortuin, had been identified as belonging to cambio dealer Roy Sarjoo.
Roy Sarjoo was attacked and robbed of a quantity of cash and his firearm by armed gunmen on October 24, 2007, in Subryanville, Georgetown.
In addition, one of the men arrested by the police had been identified as a member of the ‘Fineman Rawlins’ gang and is suspected of having been involved in the murders at Bartica, the release added.
The police yesterday did not disclose if they had captured all nine gunmen or provide any information on those in custody or the status of their investigations.
Several efforts to contact senior police officials yesterday to get additional information were unsuccessful.
Around 11.20 am on Thursday, the police responded to a report that some fifteen minutes earlier a GEB private security cash escort vehicle had been ambushed and robbed at Stanleytown.
A gang of men reportedly numbering nine, four of whom had firearms, held up the driver and three armed security guards who were escorting a locked canister with $17.2M in cash to the Wales Estate, in the vicinity of the Stanleytown bridge. The bandits then took away the locked canister with the cash along with two shotguns and a .38 revolver and ammunition from the security guards and escaped using the GEB vehicle and a car which they had used to block the road.
Ranks from West Demerara set up roadblocks and began an immediate operation to locate the perpetrators. Subsequently additional resources were made available from the Police Marine Section, the Joint Special Operations Group and the Guyana Defence Force, whose helicopter joined the search.
The teams spread out at key points and cordoned off sections of West Demerara, including the Demerara Harbour Bridge, impeding the movement of the bandits. The GEB security vehicle was later found abandoned at Nismes.
Subsequently a police team encountered two of the bandits on the foreshore at Nismes, who opened fire on the ranks, and during an exchange one of the bandits who was later identified as Eric Williams of Fyrish, Corentyne, was fatally wounded while the other man managed to escape. An unlicensed .32 pistol with twelve matching rounds was recovered by the police along with a boat and an engine.
Williams is no stranger to the police. Over the years he had been linked to several crimes, and he served five years in jail for rape and armed robbery. At the time of his death he had a robbery under arms case before the court, and had recently been released by the Magistrate on bail.
The teams remained in ambush while teams from Georgetown were mobilized and arrests were made on the East Bank of Demerara and at the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
The man who had escaped during the armed confrontation at the Nismes foreshore was later arrested in the Nismes area.
While patrolling on Thursday night, a team of police ranks encountered a motor vehicle at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, with two men inside, who upon being questioned were suspected of being involved in assisting the perpetrators to get away; they were then arrested.
At about 1.15 am on Friday the police confronted a group of four men along the ‘Old Road’ at Goed Fortuin. During an exchange of gunfire Leon Dundas of Punt Trench Dam, Albouystown, was killed; the other three men were arrested.
The police also recovered the canister with the payroll; the .38 Smith and Wesson revolver and the six rounds that had been taken away from the GEB security guards, along with a .32 Taurus pistol with two magazines and twenty-one rounds; a 9mm Glock pistol with two magazines and thirty-one rounds; and two .38 Taurus revolvers with ten matching rounds.
During interviews members of the gang confessed to a number of robberies including the armed robbery committed on businessman Chetram called ‘Barry’ at Tuschen, EBE, on October 14.
Several police sources have told this newspaper that there is a bandit with gunshot wounds in hospital while the other four have been transferred to the city where they are being grilled. However, there has been no official confirmation from the police.
IF THE GUNMAN WAS A MEMBER OF THE FINEMAN GANG THEN WE WILL KNOW FOR SURE WHO KILL THE LINDO CREEK MINERS HE MUST KNOW SOMETHING.
Aha!! Right on dinks77…….you are spot-on with that comment,but I think that the GPF is taking the opportunity to sensationalise the news a bit….How do they know he was one of fineman’s gang members?Did they see him with fineman?stupps(suck teeth)”GPF you did a good job with this operation,don’t spoil it with silly reports now,keep the respect”
The GPF continues to fall asleep whenever they kill or capture a few criminals. They got Fineman ans Skinny, they fell asleep until this. How many times is this going to happen? Tracking down these criminal has to be a fulltime job. You don’t have to have another massive killing to realize that there is a group of professional killers/criminals out there who are responsible for the major crimes committed in the country. Guyana is not that big a country. Mr. Green has to put a competent group to combat this situation, and Rohee need to provide him with the funds to do so. This is not rocket science.
No credit for the JS ,can’t you people see the commissioner is working on what will not implicate them. think about lindo creek victims? Are they gone and forgotten? What of the DNA results?
Eh eh di foolice dem wukkin like police. Ah wonda if is luck or dem deh pun a roll. Well leh we see, ayuh do ayuh ting. Nice
You back!!! you must have been mourning this loss.
what does socio-politico-economic have to do with this? do these people look like they are starving? these are people who want to get rich quick. they don’t want to work hard.
so how come when the police kill out one set
another set spring up somewhere else?
What or who is the cause or root or seed?
Good job by the join servise keep it up guys at least it seems to me like since fineman waz eliminated we can catch the criminals thats great but i hope these guys waz afraid of fineman another thing we still need an army and a poliece force ok ppl
Hats off to the GPF! Shows that with the right kind of efforts the job can be done. This is all the public was clamouring for. We need to see the police conscientiously doing the job. I must also compliment the COP and all those who must have suddenly seen the light and were able to instil once more among the members of the police force that sense of committment and purpose. The hope is that these successes would further encourage these valiant men and women to leave no stone unturned to capture other criminals within the society and bring closure to many families like the Fosters who have lost loved ones either through the cruel vicious, greedy actions of bandits or the uncaring, inhumane devices of others.
I join with all caring Guyanese to say to you guardians of our hope, continue to do the good work. Let’s put the past behind us. Let’s hope that our support will help to rekindle the pride and recapture the dignity with which many of my generation used to associate our forces in our younger days. We want to continue to line the streets to see you on parade and to feel that swell of joy, to experience that thrill of admiration. We want to once more hail you on because we once more want to regard you as the best because we know you can once more be the Best.
Like Shaka Zulu said, never leave an enemy behind. And these guys, are the enemies,of the hard working people, of Guyana. And should be hunted to the last man. Good job GPF, ROOT THEM OUT.
Weeding out is the more appropriate word.
For the roots you got to go deeper
Much deepers…
Real deep…
deep
deep
deep
hey watch out soesdyke, that man almost burried you there, lol
I am still scared of the alarming rate of these criminal, these mentally disturbed criminals have no place even on the streets. I must say thank to the police who have risk their lives everyday to make a safer guyana so that people can sleep better at night and not with one eye open. I must ask though – where are these guns coming from that the criminals are using? Is crime a business now?
CONGRATULATION TO A JOB WELL DONE TO MEMBERS OF THE JOINT SERVICES
HATS OFF TO MR. GREEN- YOU EARNED THE CONFIRMATION NOW
I HOPE THE YOUTH OUR THERE REALISE THAT CRIME BEVER PAYS-YOU WILL END UP IN JAIL OR DEAD.
HOPE THE TRAAVEL ADVISORY OFFICIALS SEND THE REPORT THAT OUR GUYS ARE TOUGH ON CRIMES AND SOONER THAN LATER WE CAN BE PROUD TO WELCOME VISITORS TO OUR COUNTRY WITHOUT THEM HAVING TO FEAR THAT THEY WILLBE VICTIMS OF DANGEROUS KILLERS
WELL DONE BOYS-