Several underage teens some as young as 13 were, in the wee hours of yesterday morning, busted for underage drinking after police raided the popular Platinum Bar and Night Club downstairs of the Platinum Hotel in Bartica.
Acting on a tip, undercover and uniformed police, with assistance from social services officials, raided the night club shortly after midnight yesterday. A search of patrons of the club was done which revealed several highly intoxicated underage teens. They were taken into custody. Their parents then had to venture to the Bartica Police Station to collect them, not before being sternly warned. Some of the parents stated that the children “get away” once they had retired to bed.
When Stabroek News contacted Wayne Heaber, the owner of the Hotel, it was told that the Platinum Night Club was not managed by him and had been rented to a Brazilian businessman, “Junior” only name given. Calls to the club yesterday were answered by a male who did not wish to give his name and who said “I can’t comment on that. De boss man ain’t deh bout and me ain’t know when he gon deh and if he gon talk to you anyway.”
Police sources yesterday told Stabroek News that they had in the past received numerous complaints and were reliably informed that on weekends the night club is transformed to provide a range of activities including striptease entertainment.
One source opined that given that the Bartica community was “the gateway to the interior” and that scores of miners would visit the town it was a lucrative magnet for prostitution and illicit activities.
A source who witnessed the exercise and gave an account of what transpired said that unknowing to the patrons in the nightclub, police first secured the exits and entrances. Some then entered the club and requested that the music be turned off and the lights turned on. Persons then had to exit one by one and if welfare and police officials deemed a person underage they then had to provide identification to substantiate their age.
Several of the rescued teens, who vehemently claimed that they were 18 years or older, were recognized by some of the officials as students of a secondary school and members of a football team who had earlier in the day represented their school at a competition. Three lads aged fourteen were found heavily intoxicated.
A 14-year-old girl claimed that she was wrongfully detained and was 18 years old but had forgotten her Identification Card at home. This was disputed by her friends who fearing detention, gave her address and the name of her mother indicating that she also attended a secondary school.
A source lamented that after a welfare official had signed and paid the transportation cost for a 15- year-old female to be taken home her mother acted nonchalantly when told of the issue. “She was taken home and her mother just did not give a damn. She opened the door, let her in and was like ‘whatever’ and went back to her bed”, she said.
Meanwhile, President of the Women Miners Association, Simona Broomes, congratulated the police for their efforts. She said that they should be lauded for the “professional raid” they undertook. However, she stated that similar sting exercises need to be undertaken in other hinterland areas where allegations of trafficking in persons, child prostitution and illegal drug activities are rampant.
“We need to see more of these exercises happening, especially in the North West mining areas where there are several complaints …. When these things happen the message gets out there that it will not be tolerated and that the authorities’ eyes are on them …in the future we need to see more“, she said.
