The wily resourcefulness of a fugitive teenage thief was on display again on Thursday as he eluded an intensifying manhunt on a sparsely populated island in the Bahamas — while earning some grudging respect from locals.
Soldiers in camouflage uniforms and police armed with shotguns fanned out with German shepherds as the search for Colton Harris-Moore entered its fifth day on Great Abaco Island, where police believe he has been hiding out since ditching a stolen plane offshore. Authorities suspect the teen, dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit,” has been hiding in thick groves of trees and emerging at night to break into homes and shops and steal provisions.
“We are intensifying our search and we are going to be relentless until we catch him,” Assistant Police Commissioner Glenn Miller said.
As the 19-year-old continues to evade the island-wide dragnet, some of Abaco’s 16,000 residents have expressed the same admiration that Harris-Moore has won in the US during his two-year run from the law. Since escaping from a halfway house, he has become a folk hero of sorts, with escapes allegedly involving stolen cars, boats and airplanes.
“I tip my hat to the fellow,” said Clayton Sands, a 54-year-old Bahamian who, like nearly everyone else, has been following every twist in the case. “For him to duck and dodge the police in two countries at 19, that’s impressive.”
Wanted posters featuring the blue-eyed, 1.95m teen have been plastered across this one-stoplight sailing town, where tourists and locals debated prospects for the fugitive’s capture. A playful video circulating among islanders showed a footprint etched in the parking lot outside a Marsh Harbour government building.
“I don’t think they’re going to get him. He’s not going to come out in the daytime,” said Andrew Gates, 42, a heavy-equipment operator. “He’s a smart guy.”
The few people who have crossed paths with Harris-Moore say he does not seem nervous.
Bartender Colby Curry said the fugitive entered his sports bar on Tuesday evening, drank a locally made beer and left after five minutes. He said Harris-More was wearing a cap over a shaved head, and no shoes.
“He was really calm,” Curry said, who only realized it was the fugitive after police called the bar because Harris-Moore had been reported in the area. “He seemed like just a regular guy.”
Police and soldiers were patrolling the island’s coastlines and airports — potential escape routes — as investigators followed a trail of seven break-ins leading north from the mangrove-lined inlet where the Cessna was abandoned on Sunday in knee-deep water. The FBI has offered a US$10,000 reward for his capture, and the island chain’s government dispatched detectives from the capital, Nassau.
To his admirers, part of Harris-Moore’s appeal is that he’s not known for violence. However, the FBI’s wanted poster warns that he might possess stolen firearms and should be considered dangerous.
The latest caper began when Harris-Moore, who has no formal flight training, allegedly stole the single-engine Cessna from an airport in Bloomington, Indiana, and flew it to the Bahamas.
He earned the “Barefoot Bandit” nickname because he allegedly went shoeless for some of his crimes and left behind footprints.
TURNAROUND: The Liberal Party had trailed the Conservatives by a wide margin, but that was before Trump threatened to make Canada the US’ 51st state Canada’s ruling Liberals, who a few weeks ago looked certain to lose an election this year, are mounting a major comeback amid the threat of US tariffs and are tied with their rival Conservatives, according to three new polls. An Ipsos survey released late on Tuesday showed that the left-leaning Liberals have 38 percent public support and the official opposition center-right Conservatives have 36 percent. The Liberals have overturned a 26-point deficit in six weeks, and run advertisements comparing the Conservative leader to Trump. The Conservative strategy had long been to attack unpopular Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but last month he
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
RSS