KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica government has asked for an investigation into allegations that a female citizen had been abused by Barbados immigration and custom officials when she landed in that country earlier this week.
National Security Minister, Dwight Nelson, has written to Public Defender, Earl Witter, asking him to intervene in the issue after the woman, Shanquie Myrie, claimed she had been subjected to sexual and verbal abuse at the hands of the authorities at the Grantley Adams International airport earlier this week.
Nelson expressed outrage at the incident, noting that he was awaiting word from Dr. Ken Baugh, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, about discussions he is seeking with his Barbadian counterpart.
But Parliamentary Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office, Harry Husbands, who has responsibility for Immigration, is quoted in the Barbados Nation newspaper as saying that there was no record of Myrie being searched by either immigration or customs officers and that a full statement would be issued after more investigations.
The newspaper quotes Husbands as saying “Shanique Myrie, on arrival in Barbados, claimed she would have been staying with a female resident.
“But a closer investigation; however revealed she was actually staying with a Barbadian man, who actually facilitates the entry of non-nationals into the island,” the newspaper report added.
Myrie claimed she was subjected to a cavity search by the authorities when she arrived in Barbados. She also accused an Immigration officer of making discriminatory remarks about Jamaicans. (CMC)
