Even as the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is under fire over a botched intelligence operation that resulted in three deaths, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NICIL, Marcia Nadir-Sharma has filed a complaint with the police of being constantly followed by unknown men.
Stabroek News was told by persons close to Nadir-Sharma that she filed the complaint after observing over the last week that she was being trailed wherever she went by men in heavily tinted vehicles. “Wherever she goes you have men trailing her, sometimes in heavily tinted vehicles and this is setting a scary precedent,” the source said.
Nadir-Sharma’s report and unanswered questions from the December 30th bungled operation that resulted in the death of army intelligence officer Robert Pyle, his wife, Stacy, who was in the car with him, and truck driver Linden Eastman has incensed former Attorney-General Anil Nandlall who has called for SOCU to make public not only its mandate but operational procedures, especially when dealing with civilians during an investigation.
The trio was killed in a crash following a high speed chase along Carifesta Avenue on December 30. It is now known that Pyle was under the belief that the car was occupied by relatives of the Head of NICIL Winston Brassington. However, it was Alana Seebarran, who was in a car being chased by Pyle prior to the crash. Seebarran is the wife of PPP/C MP Charles Ramson Jr. and at the time she was with her brother Raymond.
“A person now is unsure whether he is being followed and pursued by an officer of the law or a criminal. We simply cannot continue like this. I demand that the government makes public immediately the current remit of SOCU and its standard operational procedures (SOPs) because from what is available to the public both its remit and its procedures are sinister, invasive and perhaps unlawful,” Nandlall told Stabroek News yesterday.
Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum, when contacted, told Stabroek News he would check to ascertain whether a report was indeed made at a police precinct.
This newspaper was told by sources that SOCU agents also searched the home and vehicle of Nadir-Sharma last Thursday. In addition, vehicles belonging to her husband Mahender Sharma and father Manzoor Nadir were also searched.
The sources pointed out that while a warrant was issued for the search of Nadir- Sharma’s home and vehicle, it made no mention of those belonging to her husband or father and thus the latter searches were in violation of the warrant. This newspaper understands that while the family did not object to the search being executed, they believed that the officers should have been aware of the scope of the warrant.
Nadir told Stabroek News that while he understands that the officers were doing their jobs, they should have been more professional. “If you come for a search of X, you can’t assume everything around X belongs to X. They felt that whatever vehicle was there, they should search and we didn’t have a problem because we didn’t fear anything but decency and due process should prevail,” Nadir said.
The team took away dossiers of documents from the home.
One source questioned if the SOCU officers were trained in their respective fields and also echoed Nandall’s assertions that the public will be left confused should they be in a situation where they are followed.
“Members of the public will be left in a state of fear and muddle when being trailed. This also leaves room for criminals to approach persons saying they are working for the security services because you don’t know who is who or if they are from the SOCU what they can or can’t do,” the source said.
Nandlall also said that the surveillance of Nadir-Sharma was in violation of her constitutional rights since when she visited SOCU’s office to be interviewed, it was related to her that she was not a suspect in any crime.
“This is yet another example of clear and flagrant violation of the constitutional rights of the citizens by the state. The laws of this country do not permit or authorise law enforcement agencies to be surveilling persons who have not committed any offence or who are not suspected of committing any offence. Marcia Nadir-Sharma, as far as I am aware, has been invited to SOCU to assist in certain investigations. She was told that she is not suspected of committing any offence, yet she is being followed as she goes about her normal business as a citizen of this country,” he said.
“This is a contumacious violation of her constitutional rights and freedoms guaranteed to her by the constitution of this country.
I am aware that a warrant was obtained and her house was searched pursuant to that warrant. One would have expected that the matter would have ended there but to trail her and her husband, who, incidentally is wholly unconnected with the investigation is completely unacceptable,” he added. “Are we moving from a democratic state in transition to a military state? Is there a state of emergency in Guyana? Because it is only when it is a state of emergency that citizens’ civil rights and freedoms are suspended. The matter is compounded by the state’s inability to offer protection to the citizens against a crime wave that is spiralling out of control,” he declared.
