THE Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) said, yesterday, it has noted that a press release was issued by the Royal Barbados Police, reporting that two persons have been charged in that sister CARICOM State with offences relating to Trafficking in Persons (TIP) involving five female Guyanese nationals.

An MoHA release said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has advised that, through its Consul General in Barbados, Guyana-Barbados police cooperation has been initiated on the matter.
The MoHA said TIP is a transnational crime and, as such, the Ministerial Task Force, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the MoHA and the Guyana Police Force (GPF),  has in place appropriate regional and international cooperation mechanisms to facilitate swift response to this crime.
Further, the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons stands ready to support any effort to prosecute the perpetrators, the MoHA assured.
It was reported in the Barbados Nation newspaper that two persons were charged with TIP involving five Guyanese women.
The duo, Amelia Allison Joseph, 36, of Waterhall Land, Eagle Hall, St. Michael and 22-year-old Keenon Tristan Chase, of King William Street, The City, face a charge of receiving five women; managing a brothel; harbouring forced labour; and recklessness as to sexual exploitation.
Joseph was granted bail, while Chase was remanded to prison.