–after being caught on camera
‘planting’ drugs

A CONSTABLE attached to the Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) in ‘B’ Division has been placed under close arrest after surveillance footage emerged of him planting drugs at a SuperBet premises in Reliance, East Canje, Berbice.
According to the police, an investigation has since been conducted, and advice on the incident will be sought at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that there have been several reports in the past about the said officer pulling similar stunts and then demanding cash from his hapless victims to settle the matter.

On July 20 last, the rank, who was accompanied by a fellow policeman,
went to the business place, when, on the pretext of conducting a police search, he was seen throwing ‘something’ towards the counter, then picking it up and declaring he’d found it during the search.

The Guyana Chronicle was told that on this occasion, when the officer demanded that the proprietors pay him to “done the story”, arrangements were immediately made to hand over the cash on Monday, but after he subsequently learnt that the business had surveillance cameras, he did not turn up as planned, but instead called to ask to review footage recorded on the day of the shakedown.

After refusing his request, the owners reported the matter to the officer’s superiors, whereupon the rank was placed under close arrest last Friday morning but was released later in the day and sent home pending investigations. Efforts to contact Commander of ‘B’
Division Paul Langevine for a comment on the matter have proven unsuccessful.

Word is that it was not the first time that the said rank, who has been stationed at various police stations along the Corentyne Coast, been involved in a ‘sting’, but he has always been transferred.