American couple allege police extortion

Ian Allen
American couple Vladimir Noskov (right) and his wife Olivia Drumm say their honeymoon was ruined by an unpleasant encounter with corrupt Jamaican policemen.

David Williams, Freelance Writer

AN OTHERWISE perfect holiday for an American couple honeymooning in the island has been spoilt by what they described as "an ordeal of extortion," experienced at the hands of two local policemen.

Vladimir Noskov, 39, says the unpleasant incident occurred on the evening of August 6, Independence Day, while he and his wife of two months, 29-year-old Olivia Drumm, were sight-seeing in Portland.

According to the couple they were ordered by two plain-clothes policemen, travelling in a vehicle from the Buff Bay/Orange Bay Division, to pull over their rented jeep to the side of the road.

The policemen, reportedly, searched the jeep twice but found nothing.

"One officer told the other one: 'Search it better. Dem must have something', and the way he said it, I knew it was some kind of code between them," Noskov alleged.

He said that shortly afterwards, he saw one of the policemen drop a piece of white paper inside the vehicle and then picked it up, claiming to have found a half-inch spliff of ganja. Noskov's wife, who was at the time smoking a "beedie" (an Indonesian-made cigarette), said she was also accused by the police of smoking an illegal substance.

The couple allege that the policemen then demanded US $50 "to solve the problem". According to Noskov, he and his wife only had J $150 and were made to drive into Port Antonio, with the officers following close behind in their car. Noskov was reportedly then ordered to stop at a Scotia Bank automated teller, where he said he withdrew just over J$2000 in cash on his Visa Check Card and paid it to the officers.

The couple further alleged that, shortly before driving away, the policemen threatened to have them killed if they reported the matter. They reported the incident to a senior policeman at the Port Antonio Police Station Thursday.

Deputy Superintendent Miguel Wynter of the Police's Internal Affairs Division in Kingston said he had been informed of the report by a police official from Port Antonio, and had spoken directly to Noskov yesterday afternoon.

"I assured him that we are treating the matter very seriously and there is the possibility that we might need to have him here in the event of a court hearing," DSP Wynter told The Gleaner.

"The statements are on their way to me and we will be taking over the investigation," he said.

The Deputy Superintendent could not say what type of charges might be laid against the officers. The couple is scheduled to leave the island next week.

When asked if the incident will deter him from visiting Jamaica again, Noskov, who has been holidaying here since 1981 said: "It depends on what happens to those policemen."

"I love this country more than my own," said the Russian-born Noskov, a radio DJ from St. Louis, Missouri. "I love the USA too, but I love Jamaica more. And I'm not afraid of the Jamaican people; I'm afraid of the Jamaican police."

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