Head of GPF Major Crimes Unit detained, questioned by US authorities at JFK

Upon landing at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Head of the Major Crimes Unit of the Guyana Police Force, Superintendent Mitchell Caesar, was questioned for several hours by US authorities.

This has been confirmed by Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo during his press briefing on Thursday. Jagdeo said, “The report, from what we gather, the report was made to the superior of that policeman.” He added, “That will engage the leadership of the Police Force; that’s where the matter will be dealt with.”
However, before this revelation was made by the Vice President, Director of the Guyana Police Force’s Corporate Communications Department, Mark Ramotar, when pressed by media operatives on the issue, acknowledged he is aware that Ceasar had been questioned by US authorities. Ramotar said, “What I can confirm is that Mr Caesar is currently on vacation leave in the US.”
Jagdeo has said that, after the interrogation, the senior police rank was permitted entry into the USA. Asked whether the Government was worried by this development, Jagdeo insisted that the Police Force would have to further probe the report.
“The US will not tell us why they question people,” Jagdeo has said.
Guyana Times understands that Caesar was part of a team that travelled to India on official duties, and he was intercepted and questioned after disembarking an Indian aircraft at the JFK Airport.
Back in March 2023, the Government had refuted a finding by the United States’ Department of State that the damning allegations made by Police Sergeant Dion Bascom against Ceasar and other senior officers of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) in 2022 had not been investigated.
In its 2022 Human Rights Report on Guyana, the State Department had said, “…In August (2022), police officer Dion Bascom alleged that a businessman bribed members of the Guyana Police Force to foil an investigation into an execution-style killing of Ricardo Fagundes, a gold miner. As of October (2022), police had not investigated Bascom’s claims.”
Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C., had debunked this US finding by calling it “palpably erroneous”.
According to Nandlall, it is a matter of public record that the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) of the Guyana Police Force had conducted an investigation into the matter in August 2022, and a subsequent report was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
He also reminded that Bascom had refused to participate in the probe, or provide any evidence to support his allegations; and further recalled that the Guyana Government had even requested assistance from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Regional Security System (RSS) to investigate the allegations made by Bascom. That investigative team was headed by a former Detective Chief Inspector of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Serious and Organised Crime Command (United Kingdom).
Upon completion of the investigation, a report was issued and published in the media on September 10, 2022.
Sergeant Bascom was among several persons arrested by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) on August 8, 2022 after a quantity of cocaine was discovered at a house on Norton Street in Georgetown.
Days later, Sergeant Bascom, seemingly angered by his arrest, during several Facebook live videos, made damning allegations of corruption against several senior police detectives and a prominent businessman.
Bascom has alleged that police ranks have accepted bribes and are “covering up” the murder of Fagundes, called “Paper Shorts”, who was gunned down outside a nightclub on Main Street, Georgetown in March 2021. He later deleted the videos out of fear for his family members’ lives.
Acting Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken and Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum have already debunked Sergeant Bascom’s allegations, calling them “malicious and untrue”.
The businessman, who from the onset had distanced himself from the allegations, has since filed a $200 million defamation lawsuit against Sergeant Bascom, in which he contended in his Statement of Claim that the words and statements uttered by Bascom are all untrue, false, dangerous, disingenuous, malicious, irrational, unfair, unsubstantiated, unfounded, and baseless, thereby tarnishing and lowering his reputation.
Bascom is also facing a second $50 million lawsuit that was filed by 44-year-old Mark Richmond, attached to a private security detail, whom the sergeant had alleged was involved in the shooting.
Meanwhile, back in April 2023, former Permanent Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry, Mae Thomas-Meerabux, was detained and allegedly manhandled by male officers attached to the US Customs and Border Protection. Her mobile phone was also confiscated during that ordeal.
Days after that incident, President Dr Irfaan Ali had said there was no ulterior motive behind the treatment meted out to Mae Thomas-Meerabux, and had added that it was a normal procedure.