Two Guyanese admitted to possession, trafficking and importation of 14.5 kilogrammes of cocaine and 2 kilogrammes of cannabis in a Barbados court on Monday
A Barbados Today report said Guyanese Coco Profitt and Paul Fraser admitted to committing the crime on a boat, the Lady Sandra, at Bridgetown Port on September 10, 2015. The drugs were discovered after police boarded the boat and conducted a search. They discovered 10 packages with cocaine along with four packages containing matter that turned out to be cannabis.
The captain and the two men who were on the vessel were taken to the Oistins Police Station for questioning and Profitt is reported to have told the police, “I tek a risk and try to bring in weed and cocaine. I was trying to get some money. I am in some financial problems and I owe a lot of people money.”
Fraser, meanwhile, simply said, “I was trying to make some money.”
Further, the report said in a written statement, Fraser also revealed that he boarded the Lady Sandra at John Fernandes Wharf in Guyana on September 7, 2015 after receiving a telephone call from the owner, whom he called ‘Vicky.’
He said ‘Vicky’ asked him to make the trip and take cement to Barbados.
After they set sail, he noted that at one point he passed through the kitchen and he saw a brown bag and three black plastic bags by a flour shelf, but he did not know what was in them at the time.
Two days later, the captain informed them that the Barbados Coast Guard would search the ship on arrival and instructed them to get rid of anything they had.
He said he went on to the bridge, where he worked, and the cook, who he knew only as Profitt, approached him and asked him to hide something. He questioned what it was and the cook reportedly said cocaine and weed and that on reaching Barbados “he got money to give me.”
The cook then left and came back ten minutes later with the bags that he had seen previously and they hid them. However, after they arrived at the Bridgetown Port, lawmen found the drugs when they conducted a search of the vessel.
The Barbados Today report said High Court judge Madam Justice Jacqueline Cornelius has ordered pre-sentencing reports. As a result, the two will return to court on April 24, when the reports are expected to be read.
