As the probe into the theft of supplies from the Minis-try of Health’s (MoH) drugs bond at Diamond, East Bank Demerara (EBD) widens, director of the facility, Cecil Jacques, and several other staffers were yesterday taken into custody for questioning by police.
Police Commander of Region 4 ‘B’, Superintendent Denise Griffith last night confirmed that Jacques and his staff were taken in for questioning yesterday morning. They remained in custody up to press time.
Griffith said that the arrests are aimed at aiding the probe which commenced three weeks ago when bond attendant, Terrence Williams; a retired Guyana Defence Force officer, and a doctor, were arrested.
Williams was eventually remanded on five charges including the unlawful possession of guns and bribery.
The doctor and retired GDF officer were released several days after being in the custody of the police.
The MoH was scheduled to conduct an audit at the drugs bond to determine how many items were stolen and their value. Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony yesterday explained that the audit is underway and is scheduled to be completed in a week’s time.
He related that he was not privy to grounds that led to the arrest of the Materials Management Unit Director and staff.
Williams was arrested in March subsequent to the discovery of firearms and ammunition along with a large quantity of cash in a vehicle registered to him at the bond. Police suspect that he, along with others, stole and sold a quantity of pharmaceutical products and other medical supplies from the bond.
He was taken into custody after the police, who were responding to a report of larceny at the bond, carried out a search on a car, PAB 3032, and found a duffel bag containing a 9mm pistol and two rounds of 9mm ammunition, a .380 pistol with a magazine containing seven matching rounds of ammunition, and a total of $4,580,000 in cash, including US currency. There were 20 rounds of .380 ammunition in the side pocket of the bag, the police also said.
The police had reported that Williams, upon being cautioned on the offence, attempted to offer a bribe to a rank to secure his freedom.
He was taken to the Golden Grove Police Station, Criminal Investi-gation Department office and while being questioned about the unlicensed firearms and ammunition, the police said he requested his bag and withdrew and offered the police investigators $1,750,000 cash to forego the said charges.
At this point, the police said that he was duly informed of the new offence committed – Corrupt Transaction with Agent – cautioned and he replied “Well sir tek de whole bag a money, all I want is me freedom”.
In the initial stages of the probe, a number of other Health Ministry workers were questioned and detained over the alleged larceny but were later released due to insufficient evidence.
