Trail grows cold; 'Blackie', Douglas still at large
Some three months have passed and the trail of two men the police suspect to have been involved in the America Street cambio robbery has grown cold as the lawmen are unable to make any further headway into the investigation of the daring attack. On the run is the notorious Linden London known as 'Blackie' and his cohort, Andrew Peter Douglas, who police said were part of the gang which robbed D. Singh and Sons cambio of millions of dollars on September 22. Two others, Clyde Atwell and Toyin Anderson, have been charged and a preliminary inquiry is currently underway in court to determine if enough evidence has been produced to warrant a trial. Acting with impunity, the gang attacked the cambio during the busy mid morning period in downtown Georgetown. Four heavily armed men, sporting sophisticated weapons and seemingly abundant ammunition, fired randomly into the crowd in the vicinity of the cambio injuring five persons. A policeman was singled out by one of the bandits who let go a volley of bullets at him, severing one of his fingers. The men escaped in a waiting car. The Guyana Police Force launched a massive manhunt for the bandits with the assistance of the Guyana Defence Force. One of the bandits, Terry 'Rusty' Madhoo, was shot and killed during a shoot out with the police in the canefields aback of Houston. Despite concentrated efforts by the police and the army, the other bandits, suspected to be led by former soldier London, eluded the dragnet. The police contacted their counterparts in Brazil and the Caribbean to put them on the alert for the bandits. The search by the police led them to the North West District where they found an abandoned camp believed to have been used by the criminals but there was no sign of the wanted men. Unconfirmed reports stated that London might have been injured by the police and medical personnel were told to inform the authorities of any person who sought their help to treat bullet wounds. Police Commissioner Laurie Lewis has complained repeatedly about the lack of resources in the force to deal efficiently with crimes of this nature. He pointed out that bandits are using more advanced equipment when they commit the crimes which puts the police at a severe disadvantage. Recently, the police managed to unearth three caches of arms and ammunition which included high powered shotguns and semi automatic pistols.
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