THE PRESIDENT OF the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) is standing firmly behind customs officers in the face of persistent unsubstantiated claims of their complicity in the importation of illegal guns.
“The customs officers I know, which is practically all of them, are very honest, very sound, very fair, very firm people. They uphold the law of this country to the hilt,” Akanni McDowall told a public forum last Thursday night on the topic How Can We Stop The Guns From Coming?
“There’s absolutely no evidence to show that these officers are engaged in any kind of illegal activity and until we can get evidence, until I can see something referred to me that says ‘yes, these officers are doing something that is illegal’, then we really should not be discussing the issue of customs officers assisting or bringing drugs into the island.”
He also said that the NUPW had not been opposed to the use of cameras at the Bridgetown Port, but rather harboured some concerns.
Furthermore, he suggested that the majority of guns were not coming in through the port but rather via the country’s porous borders. (WILLCOMM)
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