— says it was unreasonable and embarrassing

A SIXTY-EIGHT-YEAR-OLD woman has complained of being embarrassed after security at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Timehri told her that they were following security procedure when they took her in a room and asked her to strip.

The U.S.-based Guyanese said in mid-September, she visited Guyana for just five days after hearing that her house had been invaded by floodwaters at Mocha-Arcadia, East Bank Demerara.

On September 16, she was travelling back to the U.S. and as she checked in and approached security at the airport, she was asked to take the scan.

The woman said she explained to the officers that she cannot do a body scan and was impolitely sent into a room when two officers asked her to strip. She explained to the Guyana Chronicle that she had previously undergone a cancer-related surgical procedure and was ordered by her doctor to avoid much radiation. That is why she could not do the scan at the airport.

The woman who declined to be named said she has travelled many countries, but disappointment clouds her joy of home as the bad experience was experienced in her own country.

“Normally, when this is the case, airport personnel, internationally, administer a pat down. This was not the case with me. I was rudely ordered into a room with an audience and ordered to strip… I had to take off my top and my pants. It’s how the woman said it, she said you have to strip. It’s embarrassing for beginners. They didn’t say we suspect something. I don’t even know if it is [because of] the short stay that I had here,” the senior citizen said.

She said none of the officers told her the reason for the search and while she was there, no other passenger was subjected to the same treatment.

“This has been a very distressing and traumatic experience… I have travelled… and never have I suffered such humiliation and disgraceful treatment. These were like young women who could have been my children. Why does my country have to bring this embarrassment to me?” the woman asked.

She said she has never been in trouble with the law and has no plans of doing such at age 68.

“I am not a terrorist, nor am I a drug dealer. If this is the way people are treated, then no one will want to visit Guyana to do a striptease act at the airport,” the woman told the Guyana Chronicle.

She suggested that airport staff receive proper training to carry out their responsibilities, as it is the first place of contact for those travelling into Guyana. And on that note, the elderly woman is calling on President David Granger, Attorney General Basil Williams and Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan to ensure airport personnel are properly trained.

“They need training. They need to be trained how to deal with such situations. They need to send them to observe how passengers are processed international [sic] at airports; and not be denigrated as I was made to endure,” the woman said.

She said even at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, a female officer would accompany her and administer a ‘pat down.’ The woman said she had left Guyana since 1974 and lived in Africa and several other countries before migrating to the U.S.

She visits her homeland at least twice every year and considers herself a “dual citizen.”
The woman said on that day, the only reason she did not turn back was the fact that she had a doctor’s appointment in the U.S. and she knew too that her ticket money would not have been refunded by the airline agency.

Efforts to contact Airport Manager Ramesh Geer yesterday proved futile.