Hoyte attends slain bandit's funeral - coffin draped with national flag
PEOPLE'S National Congress (PNC) leader, Mr Desmond Hoyte showed up at the funeral proceedings yesterday for slain criminal Linden `Blackie' London and accused the Police of murdering the man long on the run from the security forces. But Police Commissioner, Mr Laurie Lewis advised that Hoyte should take legal steps and use the law to back his murder allegations against the Force, noting that the fundamentals were the same as when he (Hoyte) was President of the country. Hoyte and PNC Members of Parliament, Mr Raphael Trotman and Ms Deborah Backer were also reportedly at the wake for London, 38, shot dead last week Wednesday morning after a prolonged confrontation with Police and Army units. Police yesterday reported that ballistic tests have so far linked weapons found in London's heavy arsenal in the apartment building where he was killed with at least four armed robberies in which householders were beaten and terrorised. Hoyte turned up yesterday as crowds swarmed the 1763 Monument Square in Georgetown to get a glimpse of London in a coffin draped with the national flag and told some reporters the manner in which the wanted man was killed "amounts to murder". He argued that the question was "not whether London had embarked on any criminal enterprise" but was the "manner in which he was killed." He claimed there were "certain elements" in the Police Force who were "killing people with impunity" and said his presence at the funeral was "to register a protest against this kind of brutal and unlawful killing of people." Hoyte alleged that there was a "Murder Incorporated" group in the Police Force whose "business is murdering people". Lewis, however, reacting to the allegations noted that the "legal provisions in this country exist for anyone who wishes to have a position explored dealt with according to law." "There have been no significant processes which have interfered with the fundamentals over the last 20 years or so", he stated. Hoyte was President from August 1985 to October 1992 when the PNC lost power after 28 years in office. Mr C.N. Sharma, owner of the Channel Six TV station and a candidate for President at the December 1997 general elections, was cheered and paraded shoulder-high by the crowd when he turned up at the square. Police reported no incidents at London's funeral. The casket draped with the Golden Arrowhead was under a canopy at the Georgetown square from 08:00 hrs for public viewing and a `soul funeral'. Many arrived in the city in trucks and mini-buses and travelled with the procession to the burial at Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo. Several persons in the crowd wore imitation military camouflage suits and one man sported the name tag `General Bridge'. `General Bridge' stood over the casket of the former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) soldier posing for photographers with his fist folded across his chest in a farewell gesture. Many others were attired in t-shirts marked `Blackie the hero'. London was dismissed from the Army after he absconded some 18 years ago. Plainclothes Policemen mingled with the crowd but uniformed ranks kept mainly on the outskirts of the gathering, monitoring the event by radio. Traffic was backed up along Homestretch Avenue and nearby streets. Cordons were thrown up at several blocks around the Brickdam Police Station area between Camp Street and Avenue of the Republic while members of the Tactical Services Unit (TSU) in riot gear stood deep inside the barricades. Hoyte arrived at the 1763 Monument Square after 10:00 hrs to a cheering crowd and was escorted to view the body which by that time had been put on to a truck which had come with a stereo set. Earlier in the morning, an orderly gathering queued to file past the casket but just before 09:00 hrs the line broke as the crowd swelled and people flocked around the coffin to get a glimpse of the body, disobeying pleas by some persons acting as wardens to form a line. Consequently, the casket was closed and some order was restored and it was opened back, but this did not last long and the cover was put back on. Police are continuing investigations into how London accumulated his heavy arsenal of weapons, including big guns and grenades, found after his death at the Toucan guest house at Eccles, East Bank Demerara, where he was holed out when caught in a joint Police-Army operation that ended in his death. Investigators are also trying to round up other members of the gang London had recruited for a string of deadly and brazen robbery attacks in and around Georgetown. The list of crimes he was wanted for in a career of crime that began in 1989 includes the cold-blooded killing of Police Corporal Richard Faikal at Anna Regina on November 21, 1997 during a gang robbery at the branch there of the Guyana National Cooperative Bank (GNCB), Police said. Faikal was shot dead when he confronted the heavily-armed gang that stormed into the bank, terrorising staff, customers and villagers. Police said London and his gang fled with some $50M from the GNCB branch. London was also wanted for: ** Robbery under arms committed on Glen Lall at Republic Park, East Bank Demerara during 1989. ** Possession of arms and ammunition at Ogle Airstrip on 1995-09-07 when he threatened to shoot Constable Lall of the Narcotics Branch during the execution of his duties (Lall was unarmed). ** Murder committed on Jonathan Belle and Raul Casimero on 1996-02-24 at Chenapou, Upper Potaro River. ** Attempted murder committed on Corporal 12160 Young, Lance Corporal 13730 Thornhill, Constables 14845 Abraham and 15181 Brummell, when he threw a grenade at them at Kaieteur, Upper Potaro in 1996 when they attempted to arrest him. ** Possession of explosive device at Kaieteur, Upper Potaro in 1996. ** Robbery under arms committed at Jotish Panday's home in Georgetown where $60M (not $60,000 as reported yesterday) in cash and jewellery were stolen. His vehicle was stolen and used by London in 1998. ** Robbery under arms committed on DIDCO Trading in Georgetown, where $872,000 and one 9 mm pistol were stolen on 1999-09-01. ** Robbery under arms and attempted murder committed on B&N Cambio, in America Street, Georgetown where $3,000,000 was stolen on 1999-09-22 (five counts). ** Robbery under arms committed on Bhagwandin Rice Mills at Crane, West Coast Demerara in September 1999 (Belgrave and others involved). ** Robbery under arms committed on the National Insurance Scheme headquarters on Brickdam, Georgetown where $13,000,000 was stolen last month. Police said he was also wanted for four other robberies, three in the Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown area and one at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara. Post mortem reports showed that London, a former Special Forces member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the young woman killed with him in the apartment building died from haemorrhage and shock from multiple gunshot wounds, a Police spokesman said. London died when he was shot after an almost 12-hour confrontation with a joint Police-Army contingent. In the confrontation with the Police and Army last week, he shot GDF Special Forces member Lance Corporal Lennox Harvey in the head and wounded another soldier and a Policeman. Police found shotguns, a sub-machine gun, an AK-47 rifle, hundreds of rounds of live and spent ammunition, a 9MM pistol, a .22 revolver, a bullet proof vest and military uniforms among other items London had in the building.
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