Bridgetown: Minister of Foreign Affairs Senator Maxine McClean is dismissing the allegations made by Jamaican Shanique Myrie, that she was body searched by an immigration officer at the Grantley Adams Airport on March 14.
Speaking at a press conference over the weekend, Senator McClean said that investigations by the Immigration and Customs Departments indicated that Myrie claims are baseless.
McClean told the press that Myrie, arrived of flight BW 415 from Jamaica and requested a two weeks stay and intitially told immigrations officials that she was visiting a female friend.
Immiigration officals discovered that Myrie's contact was a male and the woman confessed that she had lied.
Myrie was subsequently question by members of Police Drug Squad in the absence of immigration officials.
Senator McClean said that it was not the policy of the Immigration Department to conduct searches of any kind as was reported in the Jamaica Observer but rather the Customs Department.
According to McClean over 50,000Jamaicans travelled to Barbados from Jamaica to Barbados between 2008 and 2010 and only 851 were refused entry.
"These are important figures, I want to make it clear that that no one is being pulled out of the line because of their nationality, there is no intention by Barbadians officials to discriminate against any visitor" says McClean.
