Latest update February 3rd, 2025 7:00 AM
Latest News
- Govt. assures Exxon not hiding true oil data
- Sheriff Holdings distances self from convicted fraudster Ed Ahmad over suspicious Ogle land deal
- Trump says Americans could feel ‘pain’ in trade war with Mexico, Canada, China
- Soesdyke man killed after car crashes into truck
- Patterson pillories govt. for reckless spending of oil money
Barry Dataram, wife nabbed in Suriname
By Ivan Cairo in Suriname
Police in Suriname on Friday afternoon nabbed self-confessed Guyanese drug kingpin Barry Dataram in a home in Latour, police sources here confirmed.
Arrested: Barry Dataram
Dataram’s wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, was also detained.
Late last month, the two fled Guyana several weeks earlier pending a court decision regarding their alleged involvement in cocaine trafficking. They were on bail.
They were arrested by the Special SWAT Team.
According to one source, Dataram who was caught around 4.00 P.M., local time, wet himself when the heavily armed police squad confronted him.
Dataram was sentenced to a five year jail term by City Magistrate Judy Latchman while his wife and two co-defendants, Trevor Gouveia and Komal Charran, were freed.
They were caught with 129.23kg of cocaine at a home in Diamond, East Bank Demerara on April 16, 2015.
Dataram and his wife had moved to the High Court and were granted pre-trial bail.
Dataram, in addition to the five years jail, was also fined $164M for cocaine possession.
Dataram, a Guyana-born American, had successfully fought off previous efforts to extradite him to the United States of America to face drug smuggling charges.
It was believed that for the past weeks, Dataram and his wife were hiding in Suriname.
Authorities there had vowed to be on the lookout for him.
Arrested: Anjanie Boodnarine
There were little details as to how Suriname authorities were able to zero in on the two. Local law enforcement authorities had confirmed that the man had travelled out of Guyana on false documents. He had somehow got wind that he would be found guilty and jailed.
The authorities were, however, unsure whether his reputed wife had travelled with him.
A wanted bulletin was issued for both Dataram and his wife, although she had been freed.
On the day of their arrest last year at Diamond, ranks from the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) swooped down on the house and conducted a search in the presence of the defendants. During the search they unearthed the illicit drug.
It was reported that some of the cocaine was stuffed in frozen seafood, while the remainder was found to be bricks of raw coke.
Dataram is the second Guyanese fugitive drug lord to be apprehended by Suriname police after they fled to the neighbouring country.
In 2006 Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan was arrested in Paramaribo and subsequently handed over to the US authorities. In 2009 Khan was sentenced to a total of 40 years jail-term for drug trafficking and illegal arms possession by a federal judge in the US.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The PPP/C’s greatest liability
Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- One might have expected that a ruling party basking in the largesse of oil wealth would chart... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
