An investigation has been launched into an incident in which several young men of the remote Region One community of Yarakita were made to strip by police ranks who were investigating a robbery last Friday.
The police stated yesterday that an investigation has been launched into the allegations raised by the community.
While attempts to reach Regional Chairman, Paul Pierre or senior officials of the region were futile yesterday, Stabroek News was told that the regional education office atMabaruma received several complaints from the teachers of the school this week and officials there have promised to fully investigate the matter.
Reports are that on Thursday last, several miners who were returning from the goldfields across the Venezuelan border at Polvo de Oro and who were walking along a trail close to Yarakita were held up by four bandits and robbed of their valuables.
A teacher of the primary school at the community told Stabroek News this week that a party of policemen who were investigating the robbery forced a dozen young men to strip naked in front of the school around midday last Friday. The incident occurred in full view of the students of the school and resulted in pandemonium as some of the students started to cry.
The men were later released on station bail. Residents of Yarakita have called on the Home Affairs Ministry and the Police Complaints Authority to address the matter.
