…officer allegedly asks passenger how much he paid for his shoes
The Cheddi Jagan Airport Inc and the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) are investigating allegations by a frequent passenger of bribery demands by airport staff and authorities are presently reviewing the surveillance tapes to identify the security personnel fingered.
In an e-mail complaint on Thursday, the passenger, Jonathan Singh, wrote that on Monday, he was an outgoing passenger on Caribbean Airlines flight BW 484 scheduled to depart at 5:35a.m. for Port of Spain.
Singh wrote: “I arrived at the airport and checked in at the airline counter at approx. 3-3:30a.m. I had two suitcases and one carry-on. After leaving the counter, I was told by the agent to go to security, in which one individual took one of the suitcases and put it on a wooden desk with wooden borders.”
According to Singh’s e-mail account, the officer, whom he named, opened his luggage and asked about bottles of liquor that he had, saying that he was only entitled to two bottles.
“[The officer] then asked me how much I paid for my shoes and what I did in Canada for a job. I told him I was a student and did not make reference as to how much I paid for my shoes. At that point Andrew said ‘Give me a piece man’. I didn’t say anything. Then [the officer] said: ‘Do you want me to make your life difficult? Ok then, you know what to do.’ I subsequently felt threatened and given my experience I decided to pull out my wallet. [The officer] was staring at what I had inside as well as looking at the policewoman sitting next to the airline counter. I pulled out US$20 and placed it by my luggage on the desk. [Another officer] at that point asked [the first officer] what he was doing, and he then replied ‘making a piece, man’” the passenger recounted.
According to the passenger, the first officer wrote his name, passport number and Canadian address in a book, then placed the book down on the counter, looked at the policewoman and put the US$20 under the book “in which he picked it up.”
Singh said that the officer to whom he gave the money then zipped up his luggage and put it on the ground. After this, the passenger paid his airport tax and proceeded to await his flight.
It was an agent of Caribbean Airlines to whom he complained who gave him the contact for the authorities at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, saying that these complaints are taken seriously by the airport.
When the Caribbean Airlines representative e-mailed CEO of the airport Ramesh Ghir, the latter replied to him and provided contacts for the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit and asked that Singh communicate his complaint to that agency so that it could be properly investigated.
Singh said that in a separate incident on November 25, 2010, he was departing Timehri for Belem, Brazil, and while there, one of the security staff who was x-raying carry-on luggage asked him for lunch money.  “I left, proceeded to duty free. I then walked to a concession stand in the waiting area, in which she then said something (motioning that she wants money), I pulled out US$20, we walked to the ramp between the waiting area and duty free in which she took the money,” said Singh.