Genius or a Common Criminal ?

Jul 12, 2010

'Barefoot Bandit' captured

Colton Harris-Moore arrives barefoot, handcuffed and shackled as he is escorted by police to Nassau, Bahamas. -- PHOTO: AP

NASSAU (Bahamas) - FUGITIVE burglar and Internet folk hero, the 'Barefoot Bandit,' was nabbed by Bahamas police on Sunday after one last daring attempt to evade capture - this time in a stolen boat.

Bahamian authorities said 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore was arrested seven days after they found the wreckage of a stolen plane he is believed to have flown to the archipelago.

'In an effort to avoid capture, the suspect engaged in a high-speed chase, by boat, with police,' a police official told reporters. 'After a brief chase, the suspect was taken into custody without incident,' he said, adding that Harris-Moore was arrested with a firearm and other evidence.

The official did not confirm a Fox News report that the dramatic water chase included a shoot out. Harris-Moore achieved folk hero status for his uncanny ability to elude authorities for years - on foot, in stolen cars and even airplanes.

But after a long string of burglaries in the United States and Canada, the teen was taken into custody on the Bahamian islet of Eleuthera off the coast of Florida. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday to be charged with several crimes which have occurred on two Bahamian islands since his plane crashed in the territory. Police told AFP it was expected he would be turned over to US authorities under an extradition treaty.

Romanticised by some as a latter-day 'Billy the Kid,' but regarded by others as a common thief, Harris-Moore has a criminal record stretching back to the age of 12. His legend took on a new dimension late in 2009 when a private plane crashed in the Cascade Mountains, east of Seattle. It had been stolen in Idaho, near where a rash of burglaries had occurred. Investigating one of the burglaries, police found bare footprints leading up to the door and inside the Idaho hangar where the stolen plane had been stored. And so the mystery of the 'Barefoot Bandit' was born. -- AFP