…grab US$2000 from Chinese business couple at CJIA

A PLAINCLOTHES police rank was on Thursday night busted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport after he and another rank allegedly extracted from a Chinese business couple some US$2000 under threat that they would prevent them from boarding their flight and have them jailed.

One of the ranks has since been placed under close arrest following swift intervention by Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, who has vowed to weed out corruption from within the Guyana Police Force. Guyana Chronicle was told that the couple, who operates a store on the West Coast Berbice had just arrived at the airport when they were accosted by the policemen.

Reliable sources told this newspaper that the ranks pulled the couple into a room at the airport that has no camera, accusing them of not declaring their foreign currency. The Guyanese couple of Chinese origin was heading to New York. “They were leaving with a quantity of US currency within the legal limit to conduct business, but the rank pulled them aside ostensibly that they did not declare the currency,” the source told this newspaper.

According to the source the couple was forced to give up some $US2000 of the money they had after they were threatened that they would not be able to board the plane if they told anyone and that they would be jailed. Immediately after the ranks took the cash, the couple lodged a complaint with a high ranking government official, who contacted Minister Ramjattan who immediately went into action. This resulted in one of the policemen being arrested and positively identified by the couple as one of the persons who accosted them.

It is believed that a third person had accompanied police ranks and he might have run off with the money, which up to press time was not recovered. Guyana Chronicle was told that airport authorities have been examining the CCTV footage for clues.