OPR launches probe into cop arrested during drug bust bribe allegations

Following a Facebook live video that was posted by a Guyana Police Force (GPF) Sergeant, Dion Bascom, making several allegations against the Police Force, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) said it has since been instructed to commence an investigation.

On Monday, Bascom was among five people who were arrested when Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) raided a Norton Street, Georgetown house.
Reports are that CANU officers conducted an operation at a Norton Street residence, where a known drug trafficker resides. A subsequent search of the premises led to the discovery of four parcels containing suspected cocaine. The known drug trafficker along with the cop and three persons were arrested at the premises.
Meanwhile, in a Facebook live video which he has since deleted, Bascom claimed was his “wrongfully” arrested by CANU. He was heard making allegations that there is a major Police cover-up going on within the Police Force.
He also said he believes he is being targeted for calling out the wrongs in the Guyana Police Force.
The Sergeant claimed that on the night CANU agents turned up at the Norton Street home and conducted the search, he was visiting a friend.
He claimed that he had no knowledge about the cocaine while stating that the friend that he went to visit was one of the persons charged for the offence. Bascom was not charged and has since been released.
In his Facebook live broadcast, the cop claimed that there has been a multimillion-dollar bribe that was paid to senior ranks in the GPF with regards to the investigation into the murder of 42-year-old Ricardo “Paper Shorts” Fagundes.
Fagundes was killed execution-style in March 2021 outside a popular Main Street, Georgetown night spot.
Reports are the man was partying with a group of friends at the bar when his phone rang and he exited the club to take the call, but soon after, several gunshots were heard. Reports are that the now dead man’s friends rushed out to enquire, but found Fagundes lying motionlessly in a pool of blood close to his motor car.
Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) arrived shortly after the shooting and pronounced Fagundes dead. Following the incident, Police recovered at least 15 spent shells from a high-powered rifle at the scene.
Less than 24 hours after the shooting incident, Police found a white wagon, which is suspected to have been used by the killer, on fire at Swan, Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
However, investigators have not confirmed if it was the same car but based on CCTV footage, the car was of the same model as the one seen outside the nightspot, in which the killer escaped following the shooting.
Bascom said a security agent for a popular city businessman was the prime suspect in the murder investigation while noting that during the probe which he was part of, one of the investigators was able to track the phone used by the main suspect in “Paper Shorts” murder.
The cop now claims that the security officer was the last person who called the dead man before and after the shooting incident. Bascom said the matter was placed on the back burner.
Just after going live, the cop deleted the video from his Facebook page.
With respect to the drug bust, Bascom claimed, “I was set up and continue to be set up and sidelined in the GPF after taking so many weapons off the streets and solving so many crimes…. I stand by my words and any one of them could challenge me in a court of law or at a CoI…. I Am Ready”, he said. (G9)