Senate leader dismisses claims businesswoman was detained under Corporate Area SOE

Livern Barrett, Senior Gleaner Writer

Government Senator Kamina Johnson Smith has dismissed claims that a businesswoman was detained for several days after she was taken into custody under the state of public emergency in the Corporate Area.

Johnson Smith, in closing the debate on the proposed extensions of the state of emergency in St James and the zone of special operations in Mount Salem, said the businesswoman was released after she was processed.

Her comments came after Opposition Senator Lambert Brown reported in the Senate that the woman was detained and strip-searched after she refused to put out a cigarette she was smoking inside her vehicle.

READ: Businesswoman strip-searched, detained under SOE, Brown tells Senate

Brown indicated, too, that the businesswoman was given a seven-day detention order. 

Johnson-Smith said the circumstances under which the businesswoman was detained is being investigated.

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