Latest update December 9th, 2024 2:00 AM
Jun 16, 2011 News
The fifth suspect in last Thursday’s drug bust at Batavia in the Cuyuni River was yesterday brought before Magistrate Priya Beharry to answer the charge of trafficking in narcotics.
Terry James, 20, also known as Terry Jones, and David Crème, of Kurtuku, Cuyuni pleaded not guilty to a charge which stated that on June 9, at Batavia, Cuyuni River, he trafficked 149 kilos 638 grams of cocaine.
Yesterday, in court James appeared to have difficulty talking, and needed assistance from the police to walk. His lawyer, Vic Puran, told reporters outside of the court that he was not informed that his client was being brought to court.
Visibly upset, Puran said that he only became aware that the matter had been entered when he saw his client being assisted down the court steps.
The matter has since being adjourned to Monday.
On Monday last the four suspects were charged and remanded when the charge was read to them.
The four men, 41-year-old Deonarine Singh, of Friendship, East Bank Demerara; 32-year-old Randolph ‘Fatboy’ Singh; 34-year-old Clyn Collier, of South Ruimveldt; and Garcia Luis Alberto, of Venezuela, pleaded not guilty to the offence of trafficking in narcotics.
The police, acting on a “tip off” on Thursday, intercepted a vessel with a large quantity of cocaine at Batavia, located some eight kilometers ( five miles) up the Cuyuni River and about 24 kilometers south of Bartica.
The cocaine with an estimated street value of US$5million ($1B) was found stashed in four large plastic containers on a vessel named “Amor”. That vessel was powered by two 75-horsepower outboard engines.
The defendant’s fingerprints are expected to be lodged with the Interpol database. Sources had said that the fingerprints of the “Venezuelan” were sent to Interpol (International Police) to ascertain whether he is wanted or has been involved in crimes elsewhere.
The police are yet to receive a reply from Interpol about that aspect.
Markings on the cocaine packages, which suggest a South America origin of the drug, will also be shared by the local police with their international law enforcement counterparts.
Guyana is considered to be a major transshipment point for cocaine and in recent months, Jamaican authorities intercepted two ships that originated from Guyana with large quantities of cocaine.
Some 122 kilograms of cocaine in a consignment of timber from Guyana, was discovered in a ship that stopped in Jamaica.
Jamaican authorities made the discovery on aboard the MV Vega Azurit which had departed last March.
Several persons were questioned in Guyana in connection with the drug bust, but no charges were ever instituted.
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