Notorious Guyanese pirate Kevin ‘Long Hair’ Narine, aka Ram Sookdial, who was arrested in Suriname shortly after breaking out of the New Amsterdam Prisons, is still in police custody in that country, but is expected to be deported as soon as officials complete their investigations.
Kevin “Long Hair” Narine
In an invited comment on August 5, Crime Chief Seelall Persaud noted that Guyanese law enforcement officials are in constant contact with their Surinamese counterparts who are conducting those investigations, and as soon as those are completed, Narine will be deported to Guyana, where charges will be instituted against him.
Narine and three others escaped from the Berbice penal institution on June 11, 2011, whilst he was serving a nine-year sentence for robbery under arms on the high seas. The other escapees still to be apprehended are murder accused Rickford La Fleur, alias Rickford Williams, 35; and Vinood “Mango” Gopaul, 19. Vijay Seenarine 33, who was awaiting trial on a charge of carnal knowledge, was recaptured by Joint Services officers on June 26 in Rose Hall Town, Corentyne Berbice.
The four escapees had reportedly crawled through the ceiling of a building and exited the prison facility on its northern side, where the female farm is located. A portion of zinc on that side of the fence was ripped open, and it is believed that the men fled in that direction. A source close to the investigation revealed that the cameras in the building did not pick up the prisoners’ movements on the night of their escape. The source surmised that the quartet moved skilfully and may have fled by boat via the Canje River.
During the month of June, a number of fishermen were attacked and robbed while operating in the Atlantic Ocean along the Corentyne Coast. Those attacks were believed to be carried out by the infamous “Long Hair” Narine. During one of those pirate attacks, a fisherman was shot on the shoulder. Given the nature of the crime and the escapees’ notoriety, the GPF had warned Surinamese authorities to be on lookout for the criminals.
Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had earlier declared that all rules were broken at the New Amsterdam Prisons, giving the men the opportunity to escape. He had, however, posited that the arm of the law was long and Narine’s ill-gotten freedom would soon be cut short. A few days after Rohee had made those statements, the man was arrested in Suriname.
The commission of enquiry which was set up to investigate the prison break was led by Major General (retired) Norman Mc Lean. It had reported that there were several breaches of the operating procedures of the prisons, and had made about twenty recommendations to the Home Affairs Ministry. One such recommendation is for the officer in charge and the officer who was at the road block to be sanctioned, while other recommendations were made in relation to the physical infrastructure of the prisons.
