EXCELLENT networking between police and prison authorities and communities in East Berbice led to the recapture of escaped prisoner Ravindra Samaroo, who broke out of the New Amsterdam Prison last Wednesday evening in a short-lived bid for freedom.

Found hiding in a clump of bushes in the Angoy’s Avenue ‘Cow Dam’ community of New Amsterdam on Thursday evening, Samaroo was hauled before the courts on Friday morning, charged with escaping from lawful custody, and was remanded to prison.

Samaroo had been on remand at the N/A prison for robbery under arms when he and his partner in crime, Lennox Patterson, escaped from the prison on Wednesday evening by breaking their way out of the wooded prison.

The police and prison authorities were, up to late on Friday evening, acting on information being received from residents in the Berbice community about the possible whereabouts of the final escapee — Lennox Patterson.
Up to press time yesterday, there had been no word on whether Patterson had been recaptured, even as the police and prison ranks were still searching several communities for the man.

The police had issued a wanted bulletin for the men on Thursday afternoon shortly before Samaroo was recaptured. The recaptured prisoner was not harmed, nor was there any injury to ranks or persons in the vicinity as the police surrounded the area where the man was hiding.

The community of Berbice was high in praise of the lawmen for their successful recapture of the prisoner, although they expect the ranks to recapture the other escapee as well.

The police ranks also came in for praise for responding immediately after receiving word on the presence of the escaped prisoner in the buses in the Cow Dam community. (Leroy Smith)