ARTICLE - AGD PROTESTS MINUSTAH CUSTOMS VIOLATION

CUSTOMS ADMINISTTRAORS PROTEST AGAINST VIOLENT ERUPTION BY MINUSTAH SOLDIERS AT AIRPORT TOUSSAINT LOUVERTURE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
(Defend Haiti) - By Radio Kiskeya

PORT-AU-PRINCE - The General Administration of Customs (AGD) strongly protested in a press release on Friday, against the serious incident that occurred on Sunday June 5 at the international airport in Port-au-Prince when peacekeepers of the United Nations violently opposed control of the baggage of visitors by customs agents.

In a release given to Radio Kiskeya , the AGD describes the incident as a "scandalous intervention in an area considered sterile by international conventions, foreign military personnel, in violation of all rules in force in the matter, weapons in hand and rounds of tear gas, were opposed to customs control... including a certain Da Costa Daniel Rau identified by his passport."

Presenting his sympathies to the customs personnel of the airport arrival hall at Toussaint Louverture and to passengers and other persons present during the incident, the AGD wishes that there "never would have been the perpetrating of such acts to destabilize the customs institution responsible for the application of the law."

The AGD commends customs officers for "calmness which has helped to prevent the irreparable and for their commitment to remain in the first line in the defense of society and in managing risks at the borders, aware of the various threats that haunt all the States, despite the silence of some and of others the unacceptable."

The versions available on the incident suggest that "travelers" involved in the incident, arrived from the United States on flight 907 of Inselair, and were members of the Brazilian contingent of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH).

They were carrying bags which contained some taxable items. Despite firm determination of the officers of customs control, they then appealed to their military colleagues who were in the periphery. The intervention of the latter set fire to the situation and other employees at the airport entered into the situation. Objects of all kinds were then launched in the direction of the MINUSTAH. In response, they pointed their weapons and launched tear gas.

In his weekly MINUSTAH press conference, its' assistant spokesman Vincenzo Pugliese, announced Thursday the opening of an investigation into the incident. He renewed the scrupulously commitment to the as their terms of reference.