$550M cocaine-in-lumber bust… Star witness confesses to packing cocaine in wood

Feb 07, 2018 News

-names former Customs Officer, John Kirby as drug suppliers

From left: CHARGED: Sherwayne De Abreu, Stephen Vieira, Nazim Gafoor and Tazim Gafoor

Hakim Mohamed of Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo has confessed to helping Tazim Gafoor pack cocaine into wood that would later be transported to the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) for shipment.
The witness further identified two men, including a former Customs Officers, as suppliers of the narcotics
Tazim’s son, Nazim Gafoor, a motor car racer; motorbike racer, Stephen Vieira and former Customs Officer Sherwayne De Abreu are accused of aiding Mohamed to traffic just over 187 pounds of cocaine.
It is alleged that between March 1 and May 2, 2017, at a sawmill belonging to Narine Lall, located at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo, the men aided Mohamed to traffic 84.986 kilograms of cocaine.
De Abreu, of 262 Street Eight Section ‘A’ Liliendaal, Georgetown; Vieira of 37 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown; and Tazim and Nazim Gafoor, both of Menzies Street, Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, have pleaded not guilty to the allegation. They are out on bail.
Mohamed, who is the prosecution’s star witness, was called to testify yesterday when the trial commenced before Magistrate Rushelle Liverpool at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court.
Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford is appearing for the State.
The defendants are each being represented by Attorneys-at-Law consisting of Nigel Hughes, Latchmie Rahamat, Glen Hanoman and Everston Lammy-Singh.
Meanwhile, CANU is contending that its ranks descended on the front of the premises of Mohamed and searched a truck laden with several pallets of 1×6 dressed lumber boards prepared for export. Several pieces of boards were drilled randomly by the ranks and a whitish substance (cocaine) was unearthed.
The lumber was packed at a sawmill located at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo, belonging to Lall, to be transported to a wharf in Georgetown and then shipped to the United States of America, CANU stated. CANU said that Vieira is listed on the shipping documents as a representative of the shipper, Lall. An arrest was issued sometime last year for Lall, who is said to be out of the jurisdiction.
Mohamed testified to knowing Lall for 10 years, since he worked at his sawmill as an electrician.
The witness told the court that Lall told him that Tazim was his “partner.” Mohamed also testified to knowing Nazim and Tazim Gafoor, both of whom he said, visited the sawmill during March and April 2017.
According to the witness, he oversaw the cutting of the boards at the sawmill and that after the first set of boards were finished cutting, two men came to the sawmill with a black garbage bag.
He said that Tazim Gafoor emptied the contents of the garbage bag, which contained 65 brick-like white squares wrapped in plastic and taped with clear tape. He added that the items measured about six and a half inches.
Tazim Gafoor, Mohamed related, opened one of the items wrapped in the plastic and inquired from him if he knew what it was. Mohamed said, “I told him (Tazim) no and he (Tazim) tell me it was cocaine.”
The witness told the court that it was Tazim who packed the brick-like white squares into a room at the sawmill which was secured by hasp and staple. The witness said that he initially had the keys to the room but after the cocaine was stored in the room, Tazim Gafoor changed the lock.
Mohamed recalled that a few days after, “a fine Negro man” who he later heard being referred to as ‘John Kirby’ came to the sawmill in a white Toyota Premio motorcar. He stated that ‘John Kirby’ gave a black plastic bag containing more of the brick-like white squares to Tazim Gafoor, who began inspecting the packages for its brand.
He added that Gafoor told John Kirby that the brand is the “wildest.” Mohamed related that Tazim Gafoor also stored this portion of cocaine in the same room as the first set. About a week later, the court heard from Mohamed that Sherwayne De Abreu brought more cocaine and gave it to Tazim Gafoor.
According to the star witness, he knows Stephen Vieira by his nickname “White Boy.” He said that Vieira was a frequent visitor to the sawmill and would come to see the wood being cut among other things.
Mohamed related that Lall brought 400 BM of wood from a sawmill somewhere up the Soesdyke/Linden Highway and took it to his home at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo. Mohamed recounted that Lall asked him to carve out the wood. He said he operated a machine which he used to carve out the middle of the wood.
He said that the wood was left there for a couple of days at Lall’s Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo home, before being transported to the sawmill at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo where he and Tazim along with a “Rasta Man” packed the cocaine into the wood.
He said that while they were doing the packing, Tazim Gafoor was making note of how many packets of cocaine were being placed into the wood. He stated that the cocaine was packed into the wood when the sawmill employees were gone – just after Easter in 2017. He added that Tazim Gafoor asked him to go to the Forestry Commission in Georgetown to uplift the sawmill license for 2017. He said that he went, but was unable to uplift the document because it was not in his name.
Mohamed recounted that on May 12, 2017, he left the sawmill in a truck laden with five pallets containing wood for GNIC wharf, Georgetown. He further said that another truck was supposed to transport another five pallets containing wood to the wharf. According to Mohamed when he arrived at the wharf, a forklift was used to remove the pallets containing wood from the truck. The witness recounted that Customs Officers only inspected two of the five pallets containing wood that were on the wharf where he met Vieira.
The wood, he said, was then placed into a container.
He stated that Customs Officers had inquired from him about the truck that was supposed to transport the other five pallets containing wood. But Vieira, he disclosed, told Customs Officers that the truck transporting the other set of wood had broken down. Mohamed recalled that sometime after Vieira left the wharf, he boarded a boat from the Georgetown Stelling for Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, where he met Tazim at his supermarket on New Road. He said that Vieira was also at the supermarket. Both Tazim Gafoor and Stephen Vieira, the witness said, told him that the wood was unable to be shipped because there were some problems with the paperwork.
The witness stated that he later left for home, when he received a phone call from Lall.
Mohamed disclosed that while discharging the wood from the truck that had broken down near a road in the vicinity of the sawmill, CANU officers turned up and told him that they suspected cocaine was on the truck. He said that CANU ranks began drilling the wood and found the cocaine concealed within. He said that they were arrested and escorted to CANU headquarters along with the remainder of wood.
This trial is continuing.