Customs officer denies seized beer allegations

Customs Patrol Officer Keon Pryce has denied being involved in the irregular release and escorting of a truckload of seized polar beer and suspects being held at the Leonora Police Station and he gave a statement yesterday to the police.

Last Friday at 3.15 pm, a party of policemen seized 1,130 cases of Polar Beer which was being loaded into a canter GGG 4865 that was owned and driven by Duean Boston at Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.

The Police launched a hunt for Pryce after investigating the irregular handing over of seized goods to a customs officer without prior notification by a senior official of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Pryce, refuting the Police statement, said that he did not sign any documents giving him possession of the items nor did he escort the items and suspects anywhere as Police at Leonora are maintaining.

According to Pryce, while driving along the West Coast he was stopped by someone who asked if he could intercede on their behalf at the station. He said that he went into the station to see what the matter was and he realised that nothing could have been done for the person whose truck and beer were seized.

According to the Police, at around 8 pm on Friday, Customs Officer Pryce, a Patrol Officer attached to the Customs Boathouse arrived at the Leonora Police Station and stated that he was there to uplift seized polar beer, the truck and prisoners.

It said too that at around 9.05 the same night after a physical check was done of the beer in his presence, Pryce departed en-route to Georgetown escorting the canter containing the beer along with the suspects, some of whom joined the car that Pryce entered and drove behind the truck which headed east.

Police last evening said that they have not yet found the officer and were still on their “manhunt” for him. Pryce is miffed that the Police would use the term “manhunt” when he has been going about his business as usual.

According to the Police in a press release, 29 year-old Vijai Singh of Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara and also of Venezuela, claimed ownership of the beer.

“Yesterday morning (a senior customs official) called me to Customs House and said to me that the Police at Leonora Police Station made an allegation that I escorted the truckload of beer to Georgetown,” Pryce said.

The Patrol Officer said that on Saturday he heard that customs had intercepted the truck with the beer. On Monday, he said, he heard that his name was being called as the person escorting the truck with the beer to the city.

There has been another seizure of beer from a boat named “Kimberly” recently and this is said to be unrelated to the seizure made on the West Coast.

Pryce said that he worked as usual and had been in Customs House for the better part of the day on Monday. “This morning I got a call from a friend who asked if I saw the papers. When I said ‘no’, he said that the article said that there was a Police manhunt for me. I said to him that I didn’t know anything about it,” he said.

He said that he went into Police Headquarters at Eve Leary and gave a statement yesterday. “I said in the statement that I didn’t sign any book taking possession of the items,” he said.

Pryce stated that during the interview with Police at Eve Leary, he was repeatedly asked whether or not he signed a book taking over the truck with the seized beer, which he said he didn’t know about.

He said that the Police did not produce a book showing his signature.

Pryce plans to retain the services of a lawyer as he is determined to clear his name of the allegations being made against him.