Abner Pinder, chief councillor of Spanish Wells, is calling for the Minister of Immigration to publicly apologise for the wrongful detention of more than 140 permanent North Eleuthera residents in an immigration round up Friday.
And the Commissioner of Police can expect a bill to reimburse their overnight expenses in Nassau and their return transportation to Eleuthera, said Mr Pinder.
The raid, carried out early Friday morning in the North Eleuthera and Harbour Island areas, brought in, more than 200 persons who were taken to New Providence for processing. They were brought to Nassau on board "The Rookie", a double-decker sightseeing boat specially chartered for the purpose. Hearing of the news, Mr Pinder who had just returned to Spanish Wells from Nassau, caught the ferry back to New Providence.
There, and with the help of Immigration officials, whom he thanked profusely, Mr Pinder secured the release of more than 140 people who had been wrongfully detained.
"Some of these poor people were supposed to sit their BGCSE mock exams on Friday," Mr Pinder remarked, "but they (police) could have cared less."
"But what I find mind boggling is that with all the crime in Nassau, they can find 80 to 90 police officers to come and harass these poor innocent people.
"If they would have used some discretion or common sense, none of this would have had to happen. They could have allowed them to show them their documents and avoid all of this," he said.
Accommodations were generously provided by Stephen Wrinkle of Wrinkle Construction who provided rooms for Friday night at the Parliament hotel.
In the morning, a charter was arranged through Bahamas Fast Ferries, and the bill of more than $9,000 was paid by Mr Pinder to take them back to Eleuthera.
When speaking of his generosity, Mr Pinder said he doesn't know how to sit on the sidelines and "allow evil minds to prevail".
He said the Commissioner of Police can expect to receive a bill for reimbursement very shortly.
"These people were treated like dogs. You could swear they weren't human beings.
"That's why I think the Minister (Shane Gibson) should apologise. I have assisted them (police) before in finding those who didn't have their papers, but these people have theirs. They have rights just like you and me.
"Raids have been done to this magnitude before, but never this foolishly. Some of those people (police) are so careless – they have no feelings. And I have to get in it because if not, these people suffer," he said.
A number of those detained told of being awakened from their beds around 2am and dragged from their homes, despite pleading with officers to let them show them their legal documents.
Paulin Ti-Paul told The Tribune of his harrowing ordeal, and the rough treatment he received at the hands of the police.
"They came into my house and took me outside. They didn't even allow me to get anything. I told them I was a permanent resident and had papers, but they said they didn't want to see anything," he said.
The Tribune
