The Berbice policeman, under investigation after he was accused of stowing ganja on the premises of a Superbet shop located in Reliance Village, East Canje, Berbice, in an extortion bid, has been transferred to the Tactical Services Unit (TSU).
A senior police source confirmed to Stabroek News that after spending several days under close arrest, the detective constable was transferred. A file on the matter has since been sent for advice, the source said.
The owners of the Superbet in Reliance have since claimed that ranks attached to the Reliance Police Station never paid heed to several reports made by them and said they were previously harassed and extorted of $30,000 in cash.
The owners, Maria Pardesi, 62, a foreign national married to overseas-based Guyanese Hemraj Pardesi also known as ‘Prem’, 65, of Lot 9 Reliance Settlement, had explained that they made several reports at the Reliance Police Station regarding robberies but were never given any feedback.
Maria recounted that she and her husband invested in the Superbet and left a young Canje woman to operate the business. However, after discovering that the woman allegedly stole a large quantity of money from the business, they returned to Guyana and fired her. The matter was reported to the authorities in February. “It was reported to the police. The police never did anything about it,” Maria said.
According to the businesswoman, the East Canje woman then took them to the Labour Department claiming that they owed her $200,000 in payment. “She was supposed to pay herself $2,000 per day as she requested it. I never made a price, she did,” she said.
Maria said that her husband was also asked to go to the police station after the former employee made a report in relation to the said payment owed.
Hemraj said that this was the first time he came iton contact with the detective constable, who allegedly planted the illegal item in his yard. He said the policeman, after speaking with the former employee, told him that he would be arrested. “He ask if I ever get arrested before and that I would be arrested today,” Hemraj recounted.
According to the businessman, the detective constable told him that if he paid $100,000, he would not arrest him. Scared of possibly spending a night in jail, Hemraj said he paid some money. “But I didn’t have all of that on me so I paid him $30,000,” he recounted.
Meanwhile, Maria explained that over the last three weeks, persons have been breaking into their business and stealing beverages and cash.
She said on two instances, the robberies were reported to the police.
However, after realising that the police at the Reliance Police Station were not paying any heed to their reports, Maria decided to visit the Central Police Station in New Amsterdam where she was directed to the division’s Crime Chief. She said the officer called the Reliance Police Station and told them that he wanted the file with the reports to be sent to him so it can be dealt with.
However, it appeared that the ranks at the station had destroyed the reports or didn’t record any since Maria was later that day contacted to return there to file a report so it could be sent to the crime chief.
It was the following day that the detective constable, along with another rank who wore a blue and black uniform without a name tag, visited the Superbet shop and asked whether they could conduct a search. “I told them no because I said we need to see a search warrant but my husband said let them search. The police (detective constable) walked straight to the spot and come back with something in his hands. It was red, blue paper, I would never forget, with some crushed up things that looked like the lifesaver mint and then he told me its ganja.”
Maria said both her and her husband then began to question the rank. “He kept telling my husband that he would arrest him so I told my husband let me get my slippers and let him arrest both of us,” she recounted.
She said that the detective constable told her husband that the matter could disappear if he paid $600,000, but they refused to do so. “I told him we have cameras and he said our cameras can’t get there but when I came back, I put in additional cameras and no one knew…When the girl was working here, we did not have all of those cameras.”
Hemraj recalled that during the interaction, the detective constable said to him, “You have an outstanding balance with the police.”
Maria said that after insisting that she would not pay the money, the detective constable asked if he could have a look at the CCTV footage but she refused. He then left and said he would return the next day, she said.
Meantime, Maria said she made contact with the division’s crime chief who asked her what she wanted to see of the matter. “I told him I want my $30,000 back and for the police (detective constable) to admit who set him up to this and for the police to stop harassing me,” she said.
The woman told Stabroek News that she is looking at the possibility of taking legal action against the police. She added that she hopes that the matter would not be swept under the carpet.
