Four years jail, $6M fines for cocaine trafficking duo - Court seizes vehicle used to transport drugs

Four years jail, $6M fines for cocaine trafficking duo – Court seizes vehicle used to transport drugs

Jul 25, 2018 Court Stories, News

JAILED: Mohamed Kadir (L) and Andre Gomes

Two men who were caught red handed by ranks of Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU), exchanging a gas cylinder filled with cocaine were each jailed for four years and fined over $6M each, on a drug trafficking charge.
The men, Mark Gomes, 33, of Campbellville, Georgetown and Mohamed Kadir, 37, of Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara trafficked 2.50 kilos, equivalent to 4.9 pounds, of cocaine, on March 29, at Sheriff Street, Georgetown.
Initially, the men were charged jointly along with 33-year-old Ryan Fowler of Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, for the offence. However, at their first court appearance on April 3, last, Fowler opted to plead guilty to the charge.
He was jailed for four years and ordered to pay a fine of $6M.
On the day in question, the men were in their vehicles, in the vicinity of Sheriff and John Streets, Campbellville, around 19:45 hrs, and had no knowledge that they were being monitored by CANU ranks.
CANU ranks observed the men in a trade-off of the drugs.
On the day of the exchange, Fowler came out of his vehicle with a yellow gas cylinder and took it to another vehicle. This was when ranks from the CANU intervened and began to search the vehicles.
The drug was subsequently unearthed and tested on spot, and the three men were escorted to CANU Headquarters.
In court, the Chief Magistrate conducted a trial into the charge against the men and after reviewing the evidence ruled that both Gomes and Kadir had knowledge and control of the drug because of the manner in which it was concealed.
According to the Chief Magistrate, from the evidence it was clear that Kadir transported the drug to Gomes, whose intention was to distribute it. As such, she noted that the men acted in a joint enterprise to traffick cocaine.
Additionally, the Chief Magistrate pointed out that the evidence led by the prosecution’s witnesses was credible.
On this notion, she said that the stories told by Gomes and Kadir were “fanciful” and could not be believed.
During a plea of mitigation, Attorney-at-Law Glen Hanoman, who appeared for Kadir, asked the court to consider that the quantum of drugs involved is very small and the fact that the role his client played was “minor.”
On the other hand, Gomes’ lawyer, Keoma Griffith, brought to the court’s attention that his client is the sole breadwinner for his family with no previous convictions or pending matters before the court.
A request by CANU Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford to have the vehicle belonging to Gomes which was used to transport the cocaine to be forfeited to the State was granted by the Chief Magistrate.
However, Hanoman in his address to the court indicated that he will challenge the Magistrate’s decision to seize his client’s belongings at the High Court.
They were each fined $6, 075, 000 — three times the street value of the cocaine.

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