Mark Gomes, one of the accused who was recently busted by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) was on Monday charged with the trafficking of narcotics and granted bail.
The 38-year-old of Craig Street, Campbellville appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and denied the allegation.
The charge against the father of three, states that on September 9th at Lot 32 and 34, Craig Street, Campbellville, he had in his possession 24.4 grams of cocaine for the purposes of trafficking. Asked by the Magistrate for brief facts, the CANU Prosecutor said that on the day in question, CANU acting on information received, went to Lot 32 and 34, Craig Street where an anti- narcotics operation was conducted. During the operation, the prosecutor said that a wooden shack in one of the lots was searched and several glass containers were found.
He added that a further search was conducted under the floor boards of the said shack and two red cylindrical shaped objects were found containing a white substance suspected to be cocaine. According to the prosecutor, Gomes said he was the owner of the wooden shack and that he would use it to store bottles. However, as the substance was suspected to be narcotics, Gomes was told of the allegation, cautioned, arrested and escorted to CANU Headquarters along with the substance that were found.
A statement released by CANU noted that the glass containers were labelled as lidocaine. After reading the facts, the prosecutor immediately objected to bail on the grounds that Gomes was previously convicted for possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, and as a result was sentenced to four years imprisonment. The Prosecutor informed the court that after the conclusion of that trial, Gomes was found guilty and fined $6.75 million. Upon hearing the prosecution’s defence, Gomes who was represented by Attorney Siand Dhurjon argued that the wooden shack is not owned by his client as stated by CANU, but rather, it is located in his client’s neighbour’s yard, and as such, it is owned by the group of people who live there.
Dhurjon further argued that a concrete fence separates Gomes’ property from the other property that the wooden shack was in. He also requested a video from the body cameras which, according to him, two CANU officers were wearing at the time, since he noted that neither Gomes, nor his father, Andre Gomes called ‘Zipper’, were around at the time when the narcotics were found. Gomes was granted bail to the sum of $200,000 and the matter was adjourned to October 3rd for disclosure.
