Magistrate Nigel Hawke yesterday ordered that three men be remanded to prison when they appeared before him at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court accused of attempting to export a quantity of cocaine in bottles at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri.
They were jointly charged and pleaded not guilty to trafficking in narcotics.
The facts of the case are that on September 17 at the CJIA, Odit Singh, 35; Richardo Balram, 22; and Ramanandan, 18, all of Good Hope Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara, trafficked in 7.55 grammes of cocaine by attempting to export the narcotics.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that they be remanded to prison and return to court on October 14.
Singh’s lawyer Glenn Hanoman stated that his client was the operator of a motor-vehicle repair shop and a father of one and he did not know anything about the cocaine.
He said that the police had insufficient evidence for the charge against the three men and they were all innocent agents in the incident.
He said Ramanandan and Balram were apprentices at Singh’s shop and they were sent to the airport by another person.
He said that no advice was sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions because if this were done then the trio would not have been in court.
However, Special Prosecutor of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Oswald Massiah told the court that the case file against the accused was in order and he was willing to proceed.
Meanwhile, attorney-at-law Vic Puran who represented Balram and Ramanandan stated that before the court could deal with a person for an alleged offence a proper charge should be presented to the court including proper facts to substantiate it.
He said the only role his clients played in the incident was to simply fetch boxes from a truck.
The lawyer questioned “upon what factual basis should those accused be remanded?”
He said the prosecution should present short and factual evidence to the court so that the magistrate could decide whether or not there is a case. Puran then stated that no evidence must be a special circumstance in this case and that his clients should be granted bail.
The magistrate said he was dealing with the statement of the offence and it was not his duty at this time to deal with the roles the accused had played in the incident.