The five persons who were busted by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) in Prashad Nagar last Tuesday, were released on $500,000 bail each yesterday.
Meanwhile, a man appeared in the court to admit ownership of the drugs but this was disallowed by the prosecutor.
Jamal Narine, 27; Gregory Faria, 47; James Hubert, 60; Lena Narine, 62; and 71-year-old Jenni-fer Butcher, all appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Friday.
The charge which was read to them stated that on the 29th of March, at Lot 295 Shantinikhetan Street, Prashad Nagar, George-town, they had in their possession a quantity of narcotics, that is to say, 11.4 kilogrammes of suspected cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The five defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge and were released on $500,000 bail each.
In addition, a separate charge was read to Lena Narine where it stated that on the said date and at the said address, she had in her possession 266 grams of suspected ecstasy for the purpose of trafficking. Narine also pleaded not guilty to this charge and was also granted $500,000 bail on the charge, for a total of $1 million for both charges.
The matter was adjourn-ed until May 04, and the five defendants were required to hand over their passports.
However, as the court proceedings were ongoing, a sudden twist occurred when attorney Patrice Henry brought a man into the court who he said was admitting to ownership of the drugs.
Prosecutor Richard Harris however objected to the attorney’s client’s admission and noted that based on what has emerged, he suspected that it might be a plot for the unknown man to plead guilty and take the rap for the offence, while also noting that Hubert had already given a caution statement detailing his involvement. Harris then advised the unknown man to go to CANU headquarters and make the statement.
Hubert’s attorney, Nigel Hughes responded by arguing that Prosecutor Harris evidently prejudged the situation as a plot and deemed it as the most unfortunate position to take, especially when he hadn’t heard what the person had to say.
According to the prosecutor, on the day in question at about 19:45 hrs, CANU ranks acting on intelligence visited the area and noticed a gold Toyota Allex motorcar, bearing registration number HC 577 parked on one side of the road. They then noticed another motorcar, PSS 4046, stop opposite the named address.
James Hubert then came out of motorcar PSS 4046 with a black plastic bag in his hand and went into the house where Lena Narine was standing at the front door. The CANU ranks then entered the house where they saw Jamal Narine, Jennifer Butcher and Gregory Faria.
Another black plastic bag was noticed on a chair and when inspected was found to contain five par-cels of suspected cocaine.
A further search of the house was conducted and under three chair cushions, another black plastic bag was found which contained another three brown ‘brick-like’ parcels which were later revealed to also be cocaine.
In addition, a search was conducted on motorcar HC 577 where Lena Narine was earlier observed placing a pink bag. The search revealed a quantity of pills suspected to be ecstasy.
The five persons were arrested and taken to the CANU headquarters.
The suspected cocaine weighed 11.4 kilogrammes with a street value of approximately $12.5 million. The suspected ecstasy weighed 266 grammes and had a street value of approximately $400,000.
