Four persons, among them two foreigners, were remanded to prison yesterday when they appeared before Magis-trate Hazel Octive Hamilton separately charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
Shannon Jonas, 26, pleaded not guilty to having in her possession 870 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking between June 23 and 24.
The resident of Canada was represented by attorney Patrice Henry who applied for the matter to be transferred to Providence Magistrate’s Court. Customs Anti-Narco-tics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah did not object to the application and requested that the defendant be remanded to prison. His application was granted and the matter next comes up on July 1 at Providence.
Secondly, Preston Nowgu, an American citizen pleaded not guilty to having in his possession between June 23 and 24, 800 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. He was represented by attorney Leslie Sobers who also applied to have the matter transferred to Provi-dence. His application was granted and the matter comes up next on July 1.
Jonas and Nowgu were nabbed at the airport by CANU officials on June 23. Nowgu was arrested after he was seen acting suspiciously by officers and when questioned, he reportedly admitted swallowing several pellets of cocaine. He then allegedly alerted officials to his accomplice Jonas who was already on board the flight. She was reportedly found with cocaine secreted in her vagina.
Meanwhile Devon Armstrong aka Rawle Moore was remanded to prison for allegedly having in his possession 30 grammes of cocaine at GPOC on June 25 for the purpose of trafficking. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was represented by attorney Vic Puran. The matter was put down for July 15 for report on advice from the DPP.
He was reportedly caught at the post office trying to post a package with cocaine concealed in it. The box contained condiments and was bound for the United States. A search by CANU unearthed a white powdery substance in the cardboard box which was found to be cocaine.
Then Deon Griffith appeared on a charge of having possession of 195 grammes of cannabis on June 24 at Matthews Ridge, North West District, Region One. He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded to prison until August 3 when his matter comes up next at the Matthew’s Ridge Magis-trate’s Court.