CANU 42-kilo drug bust…Bulletins issued for suspects as charges reinstituted

Jun 13, 2012 News

The charges against four men who were nabbed during a cocaine bust in November, last, charged and subsequently acquitted, are to be reinstituted, and bulletins have been issued for their arrest.
This is according to head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), James Singh.
Singh yesterday confirmed that the charges against Narayan Jarbandhan, 40; Salim Bacchus, 49; Gary Belgrave, 52, and Leo Hernandez, 44, will be reinstituted. However, according to Singh, as of press time yesterday, only Jarbandhan was in custody, while bulletins were out for the arrest of the other accused.
In December, last, three of the men were released from prison on their own recognizance after their names mysteriously disappeared from the case docket.
According to the particulars of the charge, on November 3, at Line Path, Skeldon, Corentyne, Berbice, the four had in their possession 41.856 kilogrammes (92 pounds) of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The men had pleaded not guilty to the offence, after which they complained of being brutalised while in custody of CANU officers. They had showed the magistrate cuts and bruises about their bodies.
At the Springlands Court, the men’s attorney, Ramesh Rajkumar, argued that his three clients—Jarbandhan, Belgrave and Hernandez—were in fact never charged and were locked up wrongfully for a prolonged period. Magistrate Krishndat Persaud then ordered their release. The fourth man, Bacchus of Crabwood Creek, whose name appeared on a separate jacket, was further remanded to prison.
Initial reports are that the names of the three persons appeared on the outside of the other docket, but Bacchus’s name was written again on the inside of that one. Following their appearance before Magistrate Geeta Chandan Edmond, the case was transferred to the court of the acting chief magistrate, who transferred it to Magistrate Persaud.
When the charge was originally read to the quartet, CANU Prosecutor Oswald Massiah had told the court that Jarbandhan was charged with a similar offence committed at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) while he was travelling to Canada, in 2009. Jarbandhan was charged after allegedly being caught with 2.553 kilogrammes of cocaine in a false compartment of his suitcase at CJIA. At the time, his address was given as Gordon Street, Kitty, and he was described as a clothing trader.

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CANU 42-kilo drug bust…Bulletins issued for suspects as charges reinstituted

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