Marsha Maria de Caires, accused of trying to smuggle cocaine onto a flight to Barbados, was yesterday remanded to prison after she appeared in court facing a charge of cocaine trafficking.
de Caires, 23, of 56 Happy Acres, East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty at her arraignment before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court 1.
The charge stated that on March 24, at the Ogle Airport, she had in her possession 3.770 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The court heard that de Caires worked as a waitress at the Princess Hotel Casino and is the mother of one.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that the defendant was linked through a friend to a male, whose name she is not fully aware of, and whom she met on three occasions at the Botanical Gardens.
During one of her encounters with the male, the prosecutor said, de Caires was promised in excess of US$2,000 to transport 1 kilo of cocaine to Barbados. He said she agreed and in the interim she was given $10,000 to purchase personal items.
Information from her passport was also supplied to the male, who bought her a ticket to travel to Barbados, while he promised to ensure that everything went well with her, Massiah added.
The male, the prosecutor said, took a female hand bag for the woman along with four packets of the prohibited substance to the airport.
The four packets were given to her after he calculated the cost for the undertaking, the prosecutor said, since only one packet was originally bargained for between the parties.
According to the prosecutor, on the day de Caires was arrested, she was making her way aboard a LIAT flight destined for Barbados when her bag was checked and the illegal substance was discovered. Massiah said that the cocaine was placed in flour packets.
Bail was refused and de Caires was remanded to prison until April 1, when the matter will be called at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court.
