Marcel Loor arrested on
bribery, forgery charges
PHILIPSBURG--Police Commissioner Marcel Loor has been arrested on charges of forgery and acceptance of bribes.
A nine-member team swooped down on Loor’s St. John’s Estate home shortly before 7:00am Tuesday and effected the arrest.
The team included two Kingdom Detective Cooperation RST detectives, two local police detectives, Marten Hemelaar a Public Prosecutor from Curaçao, two Federal detectives, the local Judge of Instruction and a court recorder.
Loor was escorted from his home wearing blue jeans, a white shirt and a pair of flip-flops and taken to a waiting unmarked police vehicle in which he was driven to an undisclosed office and subsequently to the Pointe Blanche Prison.
In confirming Loor’s arrest Tuesday, public prosecutor Taco Stein told The Daily Herald which had broken the news about the allegations and the investigation: “He [Police Commissioner Marcel Loor] was arrested on charges of forgery and bribery, in that he accepted bribes.”
Stein said a search had been conducted at the Commissioner’s St. John’s Estate home and that during that search a computer and documents were confiscated. And, according to reliable reports, Loor’s office at the Philipsburg police station was also searched and a computer and documents were also confiscated.
Stein said arrangements have already been made for Loor to be transferred to Curaçao if the pre-trial detention is extended beyond the first two days.
Regarding the specifics of the allegations of forgery and accepting bribes, Stein declined to comment on whether the commissioner had used his former office as Chief Immigration Officer to provide false residence and landing documents.
However, this newspaper understands that one aspect of the investigations is linked to allegations that Loor had access to an outdated immigration computer system which was used to produce false documents, often giving Chinese nationals the identity of Latinos whose documents had already been processed years ago.
Stein told The Daily Herald, “It is safe to say that the charges of forgery and accepting bribes resulted from more than one incident.” He did not say how many and over what period.
Loor was Chief Immigration Officer from around 2001, when he joined the police force, until 2006, when he was removed from that office and appointed Head of the Uniformed Division. Over the last five years he has been one of the most visible and most talked about members of the force, having been at the forefront of several controversies.
His transfer came at a time when there were murmurs within and outside the force about alleged wrongdoings on his part.
About two weeks ago, when Trinidad-born G.Y. a St. Maarten resident and businessman was arrested, he gave statements implicating the police commissioner in a Human Trafficking operation in which Chinese nationals were brought to the island, allegedly with documents provided by an unnamed and presumably well- known legal advisor, and signed by Loor.
Suspicions grew when one such document reportedly signed by Loor and dated sometime after he had been removed as Chief Immigration Officer landed on the desk of the new Chief Immigration Officer.
As the investigations picked up momentum Loor was advised to take a vacation but later, in view of certain allegations that were made when a Voluntary Corps VKS officer was found standing guard at the house of a casino owner with an illegal gun in his possession Loor was placed on suspension and his weapons were taken away.
Meanwhile, following reports about Loor’s arrest Tuesday, reports circulated that another major public figure had been detained in connection with the same investigation but Stein said “no other arrests have been made.”
He said there was no indication that more related arrests were to follow and that, for the moment, investigators would be concentrating primarily on Loor.
Also, up to last night there had been no comment from Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday on the arrest of one of his top-ranking officers and several of his subordinates who did not wish to be identified and who have expressed concerns about the effect of the latest developments on the morale of the force, have also expressed dismay about the top cop’s silence.
