The main witness in the trial of the $550 million cocaine bust, which saw the arrests and later charges being laid against race car driver Nazim Gaffor; his father Tazim Gafoor; along with biker, Stephen Vieira and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) agent, Sherwayne DeAbreu, was on Friday brought before Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court.
From left: Sherwayne DeAbreu, Stephen Vieira, Nazim Gaffor and Tazim Gafoor
Hakeem Mohammed, also a drug trafficker who agreed to testify against his counterparts in exchange for leniency from the courts, is scheduled to begin his testimony on February 6, 2018. His testimony is expected to last for four hours, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor, Konyo Sandiford told the court on Friday.
In May of this year, ranks of the Anti-Narcotics Unit swooped down on a lumber yard at Lot 227 Zeelugt, East Bank Essequibo (EBE), where they conducted a search on a truck that was laden with several pallets of 1×6 dressed lumber being prepared for export to the United States. A total of 84.986 kilograms of cocaine was discovered stashed in the lumber.
An investigation carried out led to the arrest of the Gafoors, Vieira, DeAbreu and Mohammed. In May, the Gafoors and Vieira appeared before Magistrate Liverpool and plead not guilty to the charge read to them.
That charge alleged that between March 1, 2017 and May 12, 2017, they aided Hakeem Mohammed in trafficking 84.9 kilograms of cocaine at Narine Lall’s Sawmill at Lookout, Parika, EBE.
They were all remanded to prison.
However, Justice Roxane George granted bail to the younger Gafoor and Vieira when their representing Attorneys, Latchmie Rahamat and Stanley Moore made a bail petition in the High Court.
Special reasons posited that no evidence was ever presented to the court which proves that the defendants were in possession of any drugs.
Documents previously presented to the court also indicated that the younger Gafoor suffers from epilepsy.
It was also put forward to the acting Chief Justice that the trial would take a long time, since the prosecution has secured 31 statements and the two men are not flight risks.
The older Gafoor along with DeAbreu were also later granted bail.
