James Bond, 16 others arrested for breaching COVID-19 guidelines

Just weeks after he was arrested and charged for breaching the COVID-19 guidelines, Attorney-at-Law James Bond has again been arrested, and is expected to be charged with breaching the curfew.
This was confirmed on Sunday by Regional Divisional Commander of Division 4B, Senior Superintendent Khali Pareshram, who said that Bond and others were arrested during an operation at Bond’s Cigars and Cognac business place on Saturday evening.

The Commander said the bar and lounge had been shut down by the National COVID-19 Task Force and was ordered to cease operating, but this order was ignored.
“At the time of the operation, they were in breach of the COVID measures… On arrival, the Police found that there was a large gathering; the club was in session; and a total of 17 persons, including James Bond, was arrested…”, he said. Commander Pareshram added that, sometime later, Bond and the others were processed for court.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook post on Sunday, Bond said he was not in breach of the guidelines, and was discriminated against by the Guyana Police Force.
“I was standing on Linden Drive last night [Friday] and was arrested at 10:20pm by ASP Ally for breach of curfew and hosting an event. I was placed in the prison van. Subsequently eight other persons were placed in the same van. I spent over three hours in the said van”.
Bond said that at about 2:10h, he indicated to a rank of the vigilance Police Station that he would like to urinate, and he was granted permission seven minutes later.
“I saw everyone else being processed and sent on $10,000 bail, but I was told that I was not being placed on bail, that I had to spend the night in custody, and that was the instruction of the Commander Mr. Parsaram. So, I’ve spent approximately 9 hours in custody simply because an officer of the law feels I don’t have the right to freedom…. thank you, Guyana Police Force, for discriminating against me”, the post read.
Bond has claimed he was placed on $40,000 bail and was later released. However, when asked about this, the Regional Commander said Bond was required to stay in custody until he was processed.
“It takes time to process, and with that number of persons, it takes time to process that amount. They were processed in the fastest possible time…there was another operation in the division, where 28 persons were arrested, and they all had to be processed also”, the Commander said.
Almost a month ago, it was alleged that Bond and Krishnan Ross had operated the bar on four occasions, in breach of the restrictions on social activities. They were brought before Vigilance Magistrate Marissa Mittelholzer, where they pleaded not guilty to the charges and were later released on self-bail. That trial is expected to commence on December 17.
Also, in March of this year, ranks of the National COVID-19 Task Force (NCTF) visited the Cigars and Cognac bar and arrested several party-goers for being in breach of the curfew.