Grenada police have confirmed that there was a major breach of the island’s Covid-19 protocols involving one national who came into the country on Saturday from New York on a Jet Blue flight that landed at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA).
A police source told THE NEW TODAY that the man is currently in custody and would most likely be charged after he was picked up hours after arriving on the island at a rum shop in Mardi Gras in St Paul’s.
He said the suspect, a past insurance executive, should have been taken to a small guest house in the south of the island to be quarantined but was able to influence the Covid-19 approved taxi driver to take him to his home at Mardi Gras.
There are reports that a relative of the man called the St Paul’s Police Station to alert them that the individual left the house within minutes of arrival and was out in the community among locals drinking rum.
Under new protocols put in place from May 1 by health officials, persons coming from the United States and elsewhere who are fully vaccinated are mandated to spend only 48-hours in approved quarantine facilities and subjected to be released after a PCR test conducted proved negative for the virus.
According to the police official, they are also suspicious of the PCR test and vaccination card which the suspect presented to qualify for travel to the island.
He said the taxi-man was also questioned and admitted that he was very familiar with the individual whom he had picked up at the airport.
“The taxi-man say that he (the suspect) is his friend – he knows him long,” he added.
The police officer said that from preliminary investigations carried out the suspect now in custody should have checked in at a guest house to be quarantined and when the place was contacted they provided information that he did not come to the place.
He stated that the taxi driver was then called and he admitted to dropping off the individual in Mardi Gras.
“The man went all over the place in Mardi Gras drinking rum,” he said.
THE NEW TODAY understands that the suspect was picked-up about 10.00 p.m. last night in a very drunk state at a rum shop near to NAWASA’s water plant at Mardi Gras by a party of police officers from St. Paul’s Police Station and members of the para-military Special Services Unit (SSU).
Speculation is rife that the taxi-man involved might be heavily sanctioned by the authorities for the breach of the Covid-19 protocol.
“This is not slackness on the part of Health because that is the normal procedure – the taxi men are trained to do the job,” said a government insider.
The suspect was PCR tested by health officials after he was taken into custody and health officials are currently waiting on the results.