Guyana Times

The nature of the engagement suggests to us that it was a gang with high-powered weapons and in recent times that is the gang we have been encountering’ - Greene
Members of the security forces up to late last evening had cordoned off several areas along the East Bank of Demerara in a relentless hunt for a group of gunmen who evaded them during an explosive shootout in North Ruimveldt Tuesday night.

Police set up cordons at Eccles, Grove and Mocha Arcadia EBD for the entire day yesterday in a bid to entrap the gunmen whom, Henry Greene, the Police Chief (ag) said were members of the Buxton/Agricola criminal gang.

Greene also said that the police believe that wanted man, Jermaine ‘Skinny’ Charles who escaped from the Sparendaam Police Station late last month was among the gunmen.

It is believed that four men who attempted to rob a driver at Ogle, East Coast Demerara on Tuesday were also involved in the shooting. Police late Tuesday evening issued wanted bulletins for the four men whose only names were given as ‘Trini’, ‘Yankee’, ‘Capone’ and ‘Sandman’.

Lawmen Tuesday night unleashed a barrage of bullets in the thick canefields in the North Ruimveldt during what senior police sources told this newspaper was a shootout between two of the country’s most wanted men and members of the security forces. However, Greene told the media yesterday that the police were not certain whether Rondell “Fineman’ Rawlins was among the criminals Tuesday night, but he confirmed that Charles is suspected to have been there.

The shootout lasted for over 30 minutes, but when it died down, there was no evidence of anyone being captured or killed. ‘No rest for gunmen’ Meanwhile, during a media briefing yesterday, Greene vowing that the security forces would fight the criminals until their enterprise is crumbled, declared that there would be no rest for the gunmen.

“We will not give up; we will continue to take the fight to those who want to ensure that this country is insecure. Those who don’t want to ensure that persons…rest in peace, well we will ensure that they don’t rest in peace,” Greene declared.

He told the media that Joint Services had reacted to information that wanted man, Jermaine Charles, along with other members of the Buxton criminal gang was in the area of North Ruimveldt where a battle ensued between lawmen and the criminals.

“The nature of the engagement suggests to us that it was a gang with high-powered weapons and in recent times that is the gang we have been encountering,” Green said, adding that the security forces had information that Charles was somewhere in the area and it was based on that they operated.

The Police Chief confirmed that there was more than one engagement, asserting however that none of his officers was injured, but could not say if any of the armed men was shot. Guyana Times made checks at the Georgetown Public Hospital yesterday and other medical institutions, but no injured person had been taken there. Residents of North Ruimveldt had told this newspaper that the scale of the operation Tuesday night suggested that someone might have been injured.

Greene said the first shootout was behind North Ruimveldt, and then there was another aback of Eccles, Bagotstown. Skinny back Charles had escaped on June 25 from the Sparendaam Police Station by removing two wooden boards from the lock-ups. Police had announced that they had launched a manhunt for him, but Tuesday night was the first time since he escaped that there has been any mention of him being seen.

His link-up with his cohorts of the Buxton gang is another challenge for the security forces who have struggled in the past to capture high-profile criminals. Informed sources told Guyana Times Tuesday night that the lawmen had a tip-off that the two wanted men had planned to meet at an undisclosed area in the Greater Georgetown area.

However, the security forces reportedly got wind of the planned meeting and encircled the men in the canefields aback “E Field, Sophia. Residents of the area had reported hearing rapid gunfire that lasted for about half an hour aback of North Ruimveldt.

They said shortly before this several jeeploads of security officers had descended into the cane fields. One security personnel told this newspaper that from about 20:00hrs he personally heard gunshots that sounded like at least three magazines being emptied.

He said he also heard several single shots coming from the direction of “E Field,” Sophia. Fearful residents peered through their window curtains, some switching off their light during the blazing gunbattle.