A manhunt was set to find the three men. A local woman informed the police that she believed that they were living in a small cottage near her house, and three plain-clothes officers were sent to investigate. Detective Mynott, who was in charge, approached the backyard. He spotted the gang working on a motorcar in the backyard and instead of waiting for assistance to arrive, Mynott decided to arrest the gang himself. Mynott was shot dead by William Foster, this resulted in a bigger manhunt to find the three criminals. While road blocks were being set up to stop the gang in their tracks, they had already taken refuge in a cave that Foster had known as a boy. Police had sent sniffer dogs out to try locate the three men, and they were soon led to the cave where the three men were hiding.