$550M cocaine bust…Stephen Vieira, three others still on remand

Jun 13, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

….trial to begin next month

Two weeks later, superbike racer, Stephen Vieira and three men including a former GRA official remain on remand over a $550M cocaine-in-lumber bust made by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) at a sawmill located at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo.
Former GRA Officer, Sherwayne De Abreu of 262 Eight Street Section A Liliendaal, Georgetown; Vieira of 37 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown; businessman, Tazim Gafoor and his son, Nazim, a motor car racer, both of Menzies Street, Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, are accused of aiding Hakim Mohamed to traffick 84.986 kilogrammes of cocaine between March 1 and May 2.
Narine Lall, the sawmill owner, was charged in absentia for trafficking in narcotics.
An arrest warrant is still out for him (Lall).
The matter was called yesterday before Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool in the Leonora Magistrate’s Court, where CANU prosecutor Konyo Sandiford disclosed statements. The prosecutor is expected to disclose additional statements on Friday when Attorney-at-Law Glenn Hanoman, who is representing Tazim Gafoor, will make preliminary submissions. Attorneys-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat, Mark Conway and Stanley Moore are representing Vieira, De Abreu and Nazim Gafoor respectively.
The trial will commence on July 13.
Prosecutor Sandiford had earlier on revealed that CANU has been investigating this matter for three months and that surveillance footage is part of the evidence.
Kaieteur News understands that the bust was made after CANU officials received a tip-off on May 12. When the ranks acted, the boards were being packed onto a truck.
The truck driver and porters were arrested but were subsequently released after it was discovered that the vehicle and its workers were hired to transport the timber.
The drug agency in a release had said that ranks conducted a search at the parapet in front of the premises of Hakim Mohamed. A truck laden with several pallets of 1×6 dressed lumber boards prepared for export was the target. Several pieces of boards were drilled randomly by the ranks and revealed a whitish substance which was determined to be cocaine.
The lumber was to be transported to a wharf in Georgetown and then shipped to the United States of America, CANU stated.
CANU in a statement said that Vieira is listed on the shipping documents as a representative of the shipper, Narine Lall.
According to CANU, Tazim Gafoor was placed before the court, charged for his role in another cocaine matter. The 43-year-old man was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, last September, following the discovery of over nine kilogrammes of cocaine.