A police constable is in custody at the Springlands Police Station after he reportedly hijacked a taxi at gunpoint around midday yesterday that he had hired to take him to Moleson Creek.

Reports are that the police constable who was heavily under the influence of alcohol hired the black and gold AT 170 Carina, PEE 8625 from the Palace Taxi Service at No. 78 Village, Corriverton to take him to Moleson Creek.

The driver, Rajendra `Vicky’ Bhagwattie, 22, reported that halfway on the journey the constable who was in plain clothes pointed a gun to him and ordered him to stop the car and go to the passenger side. He said the gun was brown and had a handle that looked like “wet cow skin.”

Bhagwattie complied but said that when the car reached a section of the road that is under construction, the officer “ran off to the edge and he couldn’t control it anymore.”

He said too that, “The car continue to roll and me box the gear in neutral and jumped out. He [the officer] was revving the car but it couldn’t move right away.”

The driver subsequently joined a canter truck that was headed to Corriverton. He also contacted the owner of the taxi service, Jagdeshwar “Rockey” Sarran who reported the matter to the Springlands station.

Sarran told Stabroek News that the officers contacted their colleagues at the Moleson Creek Outpost. As the police from Springlands were going in to the area with Sarran and Bhagwattie they received a call that the cop was on his way out of Moleson Creek in a pick-up.

The police stopped the pick-up and instructed the constable to exit it and join the car and accompany them to Moleson Creek. The cop at first refused and started to behave in a disorderly manner.
He was then forced to take the police to a spot at the Moleson Creek Ferry Stelling where he had abandoned the car.

After the car was recovered it was taken to the Springlands station and Sarran discovered that the lights and the bumper on the car were damaged.

Contacted by Stabroek News, Commander of ‘B’ Division, Krishna Lekhraj confirmed that the cop was under the influence of alcohol and said that he has been placed under close arrest pending investigations.

The gun that was reportedly used in the incident has not been recovered. (Shabna Ullah)