Prominent New Amsterdam businessmen Tito Sancho and Winston Wade, who were charged with possession of 10.1 kilos of cocaine, were both freed of the charges at the Springlands Magistrate Court on Monday.
Reports are that the drugs, which carried an estimated street value of $10M, were found concealed beneath the front fender and the back bumper of a car that Sancho, 28, and Wade, 29, proprietors of the Candy Shop and Desire Clothing Boutique respectively, were travelling in.
Attorneys-at-law, Mursaline Bacchus and Peter Hugh, who represented Wade and Sancho respectively, submitted that there was no evidence to prove that they had knowledge and possession of the drugs.
They also successfully put forward to Magistrate Krishndat Persaud that their clients were not in the vehicle when the drugs were found.
The defendants along with another accused, Dexter Pires, 39 of Tucville, Georgetown were at the Moleson Creek Ferry Stelling, when the police unearthed the cocaine in the car.
They were all standing around the car when Pires, the driver at the time, jumped back in suddenly and fled. He was driving along the Line Path, Skeldon public road when the vehicle crashed, but he still managed to escape. Pires was later caught and he is being tried separately.
The car was taken to the Springlands Police Station, where a search unearthed the cocaine. Two women had also been arrested in the bust but were later released.
