The matter has been reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guyana and to Guyana’s Honorary Consul in Barbados. The incident comes only a few days after President Bharrat Jagdeo announced that the Guyana government was identifying local immigration officers to be stationed at the Grantley Adams Airport to work along with Barbadian immigration officials to ensure that Guyanese were not singled out for ill treatment.

Jagdeo said the move had resulted from talks with Barbadian Prime Minister, Owen Arthur on the continued poor treatment of Guyanese at the airport.

Guyana’s Honorary Consul, Norman Faria told Stabroek News yesterday from Bridgetown that he had advised that a complaint be made to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Guyana. Once this was done he said that he would, at the request of the ministry, ask the Barbadian authorities to conduct an investigation.

The 20-year-old, who did not wish to give his name, told Stabroek News yesterday that his ordeal began on arrival at the airport early Monday morning when a female immigration officer who interviewed him asked him if he was travelling alone which he confirmed he was. It was also the first time he was travelling out of Guyana.

She asked him if he had money and he replied that he had over US$700. At this point, he said that the immigration officer left her station to count the money and told him to hold on and directed him to sit nearby. She held the money up to the light and told him that US$300 of the money was counterfeit. He said she showed him the four hundred dollar bills which had the security features and three which had not when shown under a special light. At the time he said he did not know any better so he believed her. She then asked him to collect his baggage - two bags including carry-on luggage.

The young man said that the immigration officer asked him to unpack which he did. He said two male immigration officers, who had joined her, damaged both bags in their search. When they found nothing of consequence, the young man said that they took him to a room where he was asked to take off all his clothes including his underwear.

He recalled that he was very scared as he was alone with them and it was the first time he was travelling abroad. He said one of the men had threatened to “box” him when he was asked a question and he did not give them the answer they were looking for. He said he had not been rude and answered them as honestly as possible including telling them he was just out of school, was unemployed and that his parents were funding his trip.

While he was being interrogated, the young man said that he had asked them to make a telephone call to a female friend who was to meet him at the airport but they denied him that call. By this time the friend, who was at the airport with her mother and fiance, had telephoned the immigration department to find out if the young man had arrived and they allowed him to talk to her. He told her that he had been denied entry to the island.

During the ordeal, the young man said that he was given nothing to eat and was not allowed to buy anything. He was sent back on an afternoon flight via Trinidad. His brand new passport showed that he left Guyana on Monday and returned the same day.

The female friend in Barbados told Stabroek News that she had asked to see the young man and to take food for him but she was denied. However, she said they accepted a box of food to take to him.

She said that the immigration officer had told her that the young man was being sent back to Guyana so she asked him on what flight so that she could call his mother to alert her. She said the officials refused to tell her.

The friend said that based on her own investigations, she was told by the police and the immigration authorities that there was no record of any Guyanese bearing the young man’s name being interviewed, detained, or deported at the airport on that date. She added that the officials had denied that US$300, whether genuine or counterfeit, had been confiscated and the police had not been called in to investigate.

The young man’s mother told Stabroek News that both she and her husband had funded his trip because he had just left school, was unemployed and becoming frustrated at not securing a job. Both parents live overseas but visit Guyana occasionally because their children still live here. The mother said her son was not going to Barbados to look for a job but the family wanted to give him a holiday before he found a job. They thought that attending Barbados’ annual Crop Over and spending some time with his friends would have been ideal for him. She said that the money, which the Barbadian immigration officer claimed was counterfeit, was genuine. She said that even though provision had been made for his boarding and lodging, she gave him the money just to ensure he would not be hassled at the airport.

His accommodation at a hotel had already been paid for in advance through a local company promoting the annual Crop Over festival and she had a receipt to verify this.

A number of Guyanese have reported being harassed at the airport. Last year, a Guyana-born Swedish national, Colin Gaul was beaten and stripped, and earlier this year another overseas-based Guyanese businessman, going to the island for a four-day holiday, was placed in a `cold room’ before being sent back to Guyana. Investigations were reportedly conducted into these reports and the findings forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.