An investigation is presently ongoing regarding the alleged incident where a teenager was reportedly sexually assaulted during a strip search by a ranks attached to the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at the Eugene Corriera Airport on Sunday morning.
According to information received, the matter is being proved by members of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Guyana Police Force.
Speaking to media operatives on Sunday last, CANU’s head, Michael Atherly told reporters that if the allegation made against the rank is proven to be factual, disciplinary actions will be taken.
It was reported that a 17-year-old female was about to depart from Guyana to visit her relatives in Barbados when she was allegedly subjected to a strip search.
She was then reportedly placed in a room where a female rank allegedly inserted her “finger” in the girl’s private parts, and ordering her to “spread out and cough”.
The CANU Head explained that the alleged actions of the officer, if true, were inappropriate.
“…the officers had a right to take the person to the hospital and have a certified doctor carry out that search. The action that was taken was incorrect and they had no right,” Atherly stated.
The young lady is said to be working along with Police and CANU officials as the probe continues.
This incident is being seen as important given the Shanique Myrie case which saw her being paid US$38,000 by the Barbadian Government after she alleged that she was sexually assaulted and raped by a female immigration officer in Barbados after being subjected to a cavity search.
Myrie was awarded damages by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) after she filed a lawsuit claiming she was subjected to a dehumanising cavity search by the female immigration officer at Grantley Adams International Airport, locked in a filthy room overnight and deported to Jamaica in March 2011.
The CCJ had also ruled that Barbados should foot Myrie’s legal costs and said the action was a serious breach of her right of entry into that country.
