The Greek man who accused a Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer of forcefully taking US$20 from him at the airport had laxatives in his possession which led the officer to believe he might have ingested illicit drugs, CANU Head Orville Nedd has said.
Greek Alexios Charmpis had said that he had to hand over the money to the CANU officer after enduring a frightening episode of being locked in a room alone with him and being interrogated, just before boarding a flight at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, in October.
Nedd said CANU was still investigating the matter and was still to get statements from some persons at the airport. He said so far all of the information CANU has obtained was based on hearsay. “I can’t say that he [the officer] took it [the money] because based on what he is saying he did not take it, but that is where we are at the moment,” Nedd said.
Nedd said the questions the officer asked the man were in keeping with his job and that the man “ran into the room sweating” leading the officer to believe that he may have swallowed an illegal substance. He said this suspicion would have been compounded by the fact that the man had laxatives on his person.
Charmpis’s fianc
