FIFTEEN foreign nationals, believed to be strippers at the Diamond Hotel and Night Club were, on Tuesday, February 05, 2019, detained by ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) following a raid at the George Street, Werk-en-Rust building.

The raid was prompted following a video circulating on social media, which showed a woman jumping over a locked gate to get into the Diamond Hotel and Night Club compound.
The woman was being assisted by four of ‘her friends’ who were on the other side of the fence. They were holding up the security barbwire so that the woman could have gained entry.
Hours after the video ‘hit’ social media, police raided the compound and detained the 15 women, who the investigators suspect to be trafficking in persons (TIP) victims.

Meanwhile, the proprietor of the night club and hotel, Freeman Fordyce, was last week, handed a four-year suspended sentence by Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty, after being found guilty of gun and ammunition charges.

Fordyce is currently on trial for assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest.
He was charged after a video footage showed him (Fordyce) resisting being searched and then punching one Inspector Narine in the face.

The Police subsequently removed a number of women, including Venezuelans, from the premises. The ranks reportedly searched Fordyce’s club while conducting a TIP investigation.

Last month, Fiona Hopkinson, an employee at the night club, was charged for trafficking four Venezuelan women and forcing them to work as strippers at the entity.
She was also charged for withholding the women’s travel documents.
In 2018, Hopkinson and Rodwell Dempster, another employee of the entity, were jointly charged for trafficking five Venezuelans for sexual exploitation at the same night club and hotel.