Union calls for action, not accusations, on port gun smuggling

As allegations mount over illegal firearms flowing through Barbados’ ports, the union representing customs officers has challenged the authorities to use existing disciplinary procedures if they possess evidence of wrongdoing, instead of perpetually making public accusations. 

The intervention comes amid a spike in gun-related killings and heightened scrutiny of border security.

Acting General Secretary of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), Wayne Walrond, is adamant that if The Barbados Police Service has knowledge of illicit guns passing through the ports, they should utilise existing procedures that address the code of conduct for public officers.

In April 2019, the then police chief Tyrone Griffith blamed what he described as corruption at the island’s ports of entry for authorities’ lack of success in stemming the flow of weapons. He called on responsible border security officials to report their corrupt colleagues to the police.

Griffith had previously stated that weapons appearing on the streets were entering the country through the Bridgetown Port and Grantley Adams International Airport, and cited a lack of cooperation by some border security officials as a reason police had struggled to make the necessary arrests.

As recently as late last month, Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce also told a press briefing that guns were still entering Barbados, but said border security officials were addressing the problem.

But, on Wednesday, while the NUPW’s acting general secretary was reluctant to confirm or deny the accusations against customs officers, he said: “If we keep getting these allegations, we have a code in the public service to deal with anything. Why keep pointing fingers when there is a code in the public service? What has me puzzled . . . you remember years ago the former commissioner was talking about they got this and they got that? So my thing is, there is a code for public officers. If I have information on you that I could [use], go through the process. Don’t keep saying ‘I have it’…it doesn’t make sense that there is a process and you keep making all of these allegations.

“I am not one to say yea or nay because I don’t have the intelligence; so, I can’t say yea or nay. All I would say for public officers, all of these things that are going on, there is a public service code of conduct that guides all officials that deal with anything in the line of work. All public officers are subject to that.”

Walrond suggested that the authorities could activate the code and apply it accordingly, if they have evidence that customs officers are facilitating the importation of illegal weapons into Barbados.

He also said he has not had much comment from public officers regarding the accusations.

“I suspect that a lot of these would be dealt with internally… these accusations . . . what are the relevant authorities doing? And that is more the question. They have not involved the union to say that we have had any input. But if it is so, the question is, what are the relevant authorities doing, based on the allegations; what are they putting in place? They would have to answer that,” he stressed.

The NUPW leader also turned his attention to the issue of security surveillance at the ports of entry, noting that the controversy surrounding the installation of surveillance cameras at Grantley Adams International Airport in 2010 appeared to have settled down, as it has not been a topic of discussion in years.

Customs officers had protested the installation of surveillance cameras—which included audio recording capabilities—in the arrivals hall of the airport, seeing them as an insult and a potential security risk, and believing it was an overreach by GAIA to monitor their work.

“I have not heard in years it being flagged as an issue. I have not heard it being flagged as an issue in recent times. The only thing I know is that in the past—many years ago—they said put the cameras in the strategic areas where they could help with security,” the union acting general secretary noted.

On the issue of subjecting officers working in sensitive areas of the ports to take lie detector tests, Walrond argued that border security employees have a right to refuse, as it is a voluntary exercise. 

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb