Law enforcement authorities were yesterday mum on the embarrassing escape of Barry Dataram several days before he was convicted of trafficking following a major cocaine haul.
The authorities, sources say, have been informed that Dataram in the company of his reputed wife travelled illegally to Suriname and have since left for an unknown destination.
Questions have been raised as to how Dataram who has been on the local and US radar for years managed to leave Guyana undetected.
When contacted yesterday, acting Police Commissioner David Ramnarine declined to release information on Dataram’s possible whereabouts. Dataram went missing days before he was on Tuesday convicted of cocaine trafficking and sentenced to five years in jail along with a hefty fine.
“Police are looking at the matter”, Ramnarine said after being asked whether Dataram may be in Suriname and if so if the Guyana Police Force has made any effort to contact their counterparts in the neighbouring country. Stabroek News also sought information on whether the self-confessed drug trafficker had been under surveillance after being granted bail by the High Court. He was granted $3M bail and his reputed wife Anjanie Boodnarine, $1.2M bail.
Sources close to the investigation told Stabroek News that intelligence gathered so far indicate that Dataram left Guyana using a forged travel document. It is unclear where he might be heading and there are some who suspect that he may be headed deeper into South America.
“There is no official record of Dataram leaving Guyana”, a source said while indicating that the man’s passport was collected by CANU following his arrest and was part of the agency’s exhibits.
It is very easy for one to travel to Suriname from Guyana. There are two routes- the back track route and the ferry. It is suspected that Dataram and his reputed wife left Guyana via the back track route and that the fake document was created so that Dataram could travel on to other destinations if he needed to.
Stabroek News was told that law enforcement authorities are working with their international counterparts with regards to finding Dataram.
Dataram, Boodnarine, Kevin Charran, and Trevor Gouveia were before Magistrate Judy Latchman for the possession of 129.230 kilograms of cocaine (equivalent to 284 pounds) that was found on April 16, 2015 at the Lot 661 Silver Dam, Fourth Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme house owned by Dataram. Dataram was found guilty while the others were freed. In addition to the jail term, Dataram was fined $164M.
Disappointed
CANU head James Singh yesterday expressed disappointment with the court verdict saying that his ranks worked hard on this case and that the other three accused should have been convicted as well.
“I am very disappointed in the decision that Dataram alone was convicted and the three acommplices who were found with him at the house were allowed to go free”, he said.
The prosecution had argued that a prima facie case was made out against Dataram and his co-accused and that there was sufficient evidence to find them guilty of the offence of narcotics possession. The court however had excluded from the evidence, the 420 parcels of cocaine found in a fridge on the premises.
CANU Officer Anthony Yarde, during his testimony, had said that 428 parcels of cocaine were found in the fridge but upon their arrival at the Criminal Investigation Department, a recount was done and eight parcels were missing.
Given this fact, Magistrate Latchman excluded the 420 parcels from consideration in the matter, while stating that it could have been contaminated or more drugs could have been added to it. As a result, Dataram was sentenced for the remaining 60.840 kilogrammes of cocaine found.
Heavy weight was also placed on Dataram’s oral statements which indicated that he had control of the substance, knowledge and possession. It was on these grounds that he was sentenced to 60 months in jail and fined $164,268,000.
The other three were freed due to a lack of evidence. The decision was made during the morning hours and Dataram’s sentence handed down hours later.
In an invited comment, Singh said that he was surprised at the decision handed down despite the “overwhelming evidence” presented.
“People talk about big fish, small fish and so on. Here is it that we arrested a self-confessed drug dealer who fought an extradition to the United States, in a house with a hundred and something kilos of cocaine along with his reputed wife and two men and he alone has been found guilty…she did not turn up to court so what do we have at the end of the day. We have a hundred and something kilos of cocaine and nobody to show for it”, he stressed.
He said that this is a clear case of law enforcement doing their job but being left disappointed in the end. “Here it is that we got the people but only for them to do what?”, he said before questioning what message the outcome of this case sends to the accomplices who were present in court when the verdict was read.
He expressed satisfaction with the work of his officers who he said “did a professional job and presented enough evidence”.
Meanwhile, a source close to Dataram criticised the media for referring to him as a self-confessed drug lord. “I don’t know that he had any other convictions. This is his only conviction. So he is no drug lord”. The source stated too that Dataram was “no big fish” and painted a picture of a man barely managing to survive.
According to the source Dataram might have decided to flee not because he was guilty but because he believed that the odds for a fair trial were against him and he would be found guilty regardless. Based on what this newspaper was told, as the case was coming to an end he sought the opinion of several persons in relation to the possible the verdict. The opinions he received were that he would be found guilty. Sources say that the man gave no indication that he would flee.
The source expressed surprise that he would choose Suriname given the experience of convicted drug lord Roger Khan who had fled there but was intercepted by Suriname authorities and later detained by US authorities in Trinidad. He was then transported to the US where he was charged with drug trafficking.
“I personally feel Guyana is one of the best places for Dataram to remain if he wants to fight extradition. From the time he leaves here he will be unable to defend any extradition request”, the source said
“He has been labelled and has gotten a lot of negative publicity. In my mind it would have been difficult for him to receive a fair trial”, the source said.
