A Dominican Republic national was yesterday sentenced to more than four years in jail and fined $14.4 million over the 36 pounds of cannabis that was found aboard a boat at the Guyana National Industrial Company (GNIC) Wharf earlier this week.
Charges were read yesterday to Fredy Diaz Cabrera, of the Dominican Republic and Third Street, Montrose, East Coast Demerara, Epiphany McLennon, of Patterson Street, B’ Field Sophia, and Eustace Rodrigues of Albouystown, Georgetown, who were arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus read the charges to the accused. The charge against Cabrera and McLennon stated that on January 19, at GNIC Wharf, Lombard Street, Georgetown, they trafficked 16.046 kilogrammes (36 pounds) of cannabis, while the charge against Rodrigues states that he trafficked the same amount of cannabis on January 18, at Albouystown.
Cabrera admitted to the charge against him, while McLennon and Rodrigues pleaded not guilty. Cabrera was sentenced to four years and six months in jail and fined $14,441,400, which is the approximate street value of the drugs found.
Prosecutor Richard Harris, speaking for the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), told the court that the maximum penalty would have to be imposed after Cabrera told the court that he was previously convicted for a similar offence. He said that he was before a court in the United States back in 2001 and he served time for trafficking cocaine.
According to Cabrera, Rodrigues told him to transport the cannabis to Barbados. However, McLennon said she had no knowledge of the cannabis. Nonetheless, Prosecutor Harris suggested to the court that the duo should not be released on bail. His objection was that it was a serious offence and he also cited Cabrera’s confession and his mentioning of Rodrigues’ alleged role. As a result, the magistrate did not grant bail.
In a release, CANU had said that 19 persons were arrested on Wednesday after ranks from its Special Operations section conducted a search on a vessel that was scheduled to leave Port Georgetown with a quantity of cement. Several parcels suspected to be cannabis were discovered throughout the vessel during this search.
It noted that the vessel is foreign-registered, with a crew of 19 foreign nationals. The crew and the suspected cannabis were taken to the CANU headquarters for further processing, where the narcotic was tested and confirmed to be a foreign type of marijuana known as ‘creepy’.
The police said that similar searches will be carried out as part of an ongoing multi-agency and multi-national investigation aimed at dismantling a regional network involved in the movement of narcotics from Guyana using cargo vessels.
