Quick action by top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs led to the transfer of a corrupt police traffic rank out of the Department.
A release yesterday from the ministry said that a mini bus driver was pulled over last Wednesday by a motorcycle traffic rank attached to the Brickdam Police Station in the vicinity of Stabroek Market.
Upon inspection of the vehicle’s documents, the release said that the rank discovered that the vehicle’s fitness was missing.
After the bus driver explained that the missing document was at his home, the traffic rank held on to the insurance and driver’s licence of the bus driver and sent him home to retrieve the fitness, the release said. He was also instructed to return “with nothing less than $5,000.”
“This extortion was reported to Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, and a sting operation was quickly executed by a senior ministry official who photographed the serial numbers of the money and recorded the transaction on video. The traffic rank was then escorted back to the Brickdam Police Station where he was interrogated by senior police officers followed by an investigation. As a result, he was removed from Traffic”, the release said.
This incident, the release said, signals a warning that the Ministry of Home Affairs has zero tolerance for corruption, and is determined to weed out those who continue to give the Guyana Police Force a bad name.
The release did not say if charges will be filed.
