Clash with cop, Diamond Club owner...Investigators will go ‘wherever evidence leads,’ says Crime Chief

Clash with cop, Diamond Club owner…Investigators will go ‘wherever evidence leads,’ says Crime Chief

Nov 21, 2018 News

Crime Chief Lyndon Alves says police will go wherever the investigation leads regarding the November 3 confrontation between Diamond Club owner Freeman Fordyce and Major Crimes Unit rank Inspector Prem Narine.
He confirmed that the investigation was launched after Fordyce filed a complaint, which stated that Narine had threatened him with a firearm. He said that investigators are trying to ascertain exactly what happened.

Police during last January’s raid at the club

“The man (Fordyce) made a report and he said that he will cooperate,” he told Kaieteur News on Sunday. “We will go wherever it (the investigation) leads.”
Video footage posted online shows Fordyce resisting being searched and then punching Inspector Narine in the face. It is then that the rank draws his weapon.
The incident occurred outside of the Diamond Hotel and Bar, located in George Street, Werk-en-Rust. Police subsequently removed a number of women, including Venezuelan nationals, from the premises. Kaieteur News understands that Fordyce was taken into custody but was released without charges. A vehicle allegedly owned by Fordyce was also impounded but then handed back to the owner.
Police reportedly searched Fordyce’s club while conducting a Trafficking in Persons investigation. This happened after police on the East Coast of Demerara intercepted a businessman who was transporting four Venezuelan women in his vehicle. The women were suspected to have been trafficked.
In January, police had removed 41 foreign nationals from the same adult entertainment bar. Eight employees were also detained.
Fiona Hopkinson and Rodwell Dempster were subsequently charged for Trafficking in Person (TIP). It was alleged that they recruited, transported and harboured five Venezuelans at Diamond Hotel and Bar for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan had said that the raid on the Diamond Bar and Hotel in Georgetown was part of a crackdown on suspected strip clubs and their associated illegal activities of human trafficking and prostitution.
He stated that attempts would be made to have the Guyana Revenue Authority revoke the liquor licences for establishments found to be involved in the illegal activities.
“We intend to go after those who we suspect to be trafficking in humans for sexual and labour exploitation. We have been getting information that individuals, like the owner of Diamond, have been involved, and of course this information has come from the Police Force,” Minister Ramjattan said.
He also noted that the crackdown was in keeping with the Ministerial Task Force on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) action plan, which is to conduct various interdiction exercises.
“We are not going to allow it. We have zero tolerance for trafficking in persons, sexual and labour exploitation of young girls from across our South American and Caribbean territories,” Minister Ramjattan had stated.

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