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Oct 16, 2016 News
…handed over to Guyanese authorities
-false passports raise troubling questions
One day after being dramatically captured by a Surinamese SWAT team while hiding out in
Paramaribo, convicted drug dealer, Barry Dataram and his wife, are back in Guyana. They were arrested by the Special SWAT Team.
Yesterday morning, Dataram was brought back to Guyana on the Canawaima Ferry which docked at the Moleson Creek Terminal, Corentyne, East Berbice.
Dataram and his wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, were both handed over to ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) before being whisked away, under heavy guard, to the city.
Police in Suriname on Friday afternoon said that they had nabbed Dataram in a home in Latour, Paramaribo.
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.
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 60-month 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 $4 million pre-trial bail.
In addition to the 60-month jail term, Dataram 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.
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.
Meanwhile, Guyanese authorities would be highly interested in the passports used by Dataram and his wife and how they managed to acquire them.
Dataram reportedly used a passport, bearing number R0376916, and issued April 15, 2013, in the name of David Persaud. At the time Clement Rohee was the Home Affair Minister.
His wife, Anjanie, had a passport in the name of Christine Persaud and bearing number R0341097. The passport was reportedly issued January 15, 2016 and this time, the Minister of Citizenship is Winston Felix.
Investigators would have to determine if the passports were indeed issued by the Immigration office here and if they were, to determine how Dataram and his wife managed to slip fake application documents through to staffers.
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.
Meanwhile, the police yesterday in a statement said that following the arrest of Dataram, “a fugitive in Suriname and his handing over to local authorities”, the Acting Commissioner of Police, David Ramnarine, wishes to acknowledge the excellent collaboration between local law enforcement units and their counterparts in Suriname.
“While he (Ramnarine) is fully aware of the same quality of collaboration from Government to Government, that which occurred between 13:00h. (Friday) and 09:00h. (Saturday), represented the best efforts and sends a clear message that with the use of science and technology in law enforcement and personnel who are consummate professionals, the public interest is well served.”
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They better make sure that he’s in a secure cell and unable to bribe prison guards to help him escape. I’m hoping that he be extradited to the U.S. to face some heavy jail time.