The two Brazilian men who were busted with close to 1,000 pounds of cocaine in their aircraft last week after they crash-landed in Orealla, were remanded to prison after they were charged with illegal entry and trafficking of cocaine.
Salem Nobrega De Alencar, 64, and Andre Luiz Pereira, 31, appeared at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Alex Moore yesterday, who read the charges of illegal entry and trafficking of 453 kilogrammes of cocaine to them.
The unrepresented men pleaded not guilty to the charges. Police prosecutor, Inspector Orin Joseph objected to bail on the basis that the two accused provided video evidence that the aircraft belongs to them, hence were considered flight risks.
Bail was subsequently denied and the men were remanded to prison until June 22.
On Thursday last, police discovered the cocaine after the foreign-registered aircraft, a four-seater Bonanza Beechcraft crashed-landed in the Orealla savannah.
The two men were immediately arrested after police made the discovery.
The initial search of the aircraft was carried out by divisional ranks, after which the force’s SWAT team, the GDF, and CANU, were mobilised and dispatched to the scene from Camp Ayanganna aboard the GDF’s BEL-412 helicopter.
“A thorough search of the aircraft was conducted and a total of 453 packages containing 453 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine were found, along with 2 Global Positioning Systems, 1 Radio Set, 3 Mobile Smartphones, 2 Identification Cards and the Aircraft Registration Documents”, a statement from the Guyana Police Force had disclosed.
Stabroek News had previously reported, that the plane, PT-SRR had crash-landed just before 2 pm on Thursday last.
This newspaper was informed that the men had told residents of the riverine community that they were visiting the area for leisure but started to experience some mechanical issues in the air causing their fuel to run out and forcing them to crash-land in the area.
They had requested to purchase a large amount of fuel, but the residents instead became suspicious and immediately contacted the local ranks stationed in the area, who questioned the men and conducted a search of the aircraft during which the cocaine was discovered.
