(Barbados Nation) An internal investigation has been launched into the disappearance of a drug-related case file from the precincts of a magistrate’s court.
According to confirmed reports, the file’s disappearance has been linked to a senior policeman and a court official.
The discovery was reportedly made over the last several weeks after it was realised the case, which involves charges of possession of over Bds$100 000 worth of ganja, had not been brought back before the court for hearing.
A detailed search was then carried out for the file between the courts and the court prosecutors’ offices, but up to press time it had not been retrieved.
Further reports indicated that a Bds$7 000 fee is believed to have been paid by the drug accused for the removal of the file to avoid prosecution.
When contacted yesterday Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin would only say that a matter involving a court case had been drawn to his attention. “I’ve asked my officers for a full brief on the matter,” he added.
Over the past several months a number of police officers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
Some are now facing criminal charges ranging from theft of police revolvers and kidnapping, to rape, acts of gross indecency, drug possession and trafficking.
Dottin is previously on record as expressing concern about members of the force being involved in questionable acts and facing criminal charges.
He said there were always “warning signs” when police officers were going “off track” and supervisors had to be able to pick them up. When Prime Minister Freundel Stuart was Attorney General, he expressed concern about criminality among some police officers.
He said then that what was happening in the force was a reflection of what the society had become and what the country had to deal with going forward.
