PM SAYS THAT BOAT ALLEGED TO HAVE TRANSPORTED CHOKSI DID NOT BREACH BOARDERS AND NO SCOTLAND YARD INQUIRIES HAVE BEEN MADE

 
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says the vessel that allegedly transported Mehul Choksi to Dominica was in Antigua and Barbuda legally and did not breach the country’s borders.
 
In response to a question posed by Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, Browne says he is not aware of the boat operators breaching any immigration laws here.
 
In the meantime, however, he says that local law-enforcement officials are investigating Choksi’s allegation that he was abducted.
 
Answering a related question, Browne says that Scotland Yard has not sought any assistance from him or his Ministers in the investigation of Choksi’s alleged kidnapping on May 23. Nor has any other regional agency, he claims.

Despite the circulation of a local police report into the matter, PM Browne says no official evidence has been revealed to support the allegation. He says, though, that the Police might have some persons of interest on their radar.
 
Choksi alleges that he was pounced upon by men with Antiguan and Indian accents, gagged, beaten, tortured and taken to a boat and transported to Dominica.
 
He faces charges in that country for illegal entry and has been placed on remand.