Gunfight at Christmas Falls…‘Fine Man’ planned further massacres to avenge sister’s death

Jun 08, 2008 News

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…diary reveals

A heavily-armed Joint Services contingent was yesterday still hot on the trail of fugitive Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins and several other gunmen, who escaped following Friday’s shootout at Christmas Falls.
That clash left one gunman dead and speculation that others are possibly wounded.

Police, in a press release, stated that Rawlins was among the fleeing six-member gang that was found in a well-stocked camp in an area some 300 miles up the Berbice River.
According to the statement, weapons recovered from the gunmen’s hideout linked the gang to the slaughter of 12 people at Bartica.

“The Joint Services ranks also unearthed a diary which provided incontrovertible evidence of Rondell Rawlins’s planning and execution of the killings at Lusignan and Bartica.”
The Police said that the wanted man also planned to take vengeance for the death of his sister.
Marcyn King, of D’Andrade Street, Newtown, was shot dead as she was returning home from her job at Rentokil, on March 10 last.
She had just disembarked from a car and was walking home when another car drove up and a gunman exited and shot her.
“The diary also had a number of telephone numbers,” the statement said.
The weapons found in the camp included three FN rifles, four shotguns, and a .32 revolver.
Two AK-47 magazines, seven FN rifle magazines; 1,159 rounds of 7.62 x 39 ammunition, 143 rounds of 7.62 x 51 ammunition; 10 rounds of .38 ammunition; one round of .32 ammunition; and three dozen 12-gauge cartridges were also recovered.

“Further, checks have confirmed that the three FN rifles were stolen from the Bartica Police Station during the armed attack on that community on February 17, 2008, and the .32 revolver and two of the shotguns have been identified as belonging to miner Chunilall Babulall, whose home at First Avenue, Bartica was attacked and robbed during that incident,” Police said.
The gang members were housed in a location with four buildings in a desolate area in the jungle, and had foodstuff to last several weeks in a large kitchen.

In the kitchen were a gas stove, generator, and solar energy panels and inverters.
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. These were all abandoned by the gang after the Joint Services ranks surprised them.
According to the statement, the other gang members who escaped with Rawlins included Richard Ramcharran, called ‘Uncle Willie,’ ‘Magic,’ and ‘Chung Boy’.

The surprise Joint Services raid at Christmas Falls came in the wake of several weeks of intelligence-gathering by undercover operatives in areas such as Kwakwani, officials said.
They found an individual who was making purchases in Linden and they arrested him.
This individual reportedly provided crucial information that led the Joint Services team to the remote hinterland location, some 90 miles from Kwakwani. The location was once home to a major expatriate company.

The location has a helicopter pad, suggesting that it was a well built-up site in years gone by.
According to the Police, the Surinamese authorities have been alerted, because the location of the camp could afford flight to the neighbouring republic.
The gunmen could also end up in Orealla, a fact that has not escaped notice.
Kaieteur News had reported last week that Joint Services ranks had arrested a Kwakwani resident whom they suspected had links with the gang.

He is still in custody and is being interrogated in Georgetown.
The release stated that, following the arrest of several persons and “diligent interrogations and enquiries,” at around 07:00hrs on Friday, a Joint Services patrol in the Christmas Falls area encountered a gang of about six persons.
“The patrol immediately came under fire, and responded, killing one of the gang members, who is yet to be identified.”
“Rawlins, Richard Ramcharran, called ‘Uncle Willie’, ‘Magic’ and ‘Chung Boy’, among others, escaped down a slope and disappeared into the jungle. Trails of blood suggest that others were injured.”
Kaieteur News understands that some of the gunmen were forced to flee into the jungle barefooted.
Additional teams of Joint Services ranks have since joined the operation.

Word from Kwakwani was that, using aircraft, the Joint Services got an excellent fix on the gang.
Residents in the area said that they were alerted to the action by the presence of the Skyvan overhead and the large number of Police and army ranks in the community.
According to some reports, the gang had enlisted people to build a boat, and an engine was about to have been bought for the vessel.
This plan has been shot down, because the ranks have expanded their operation to include the river’s edge.

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