Trio arraigned for seawall cocaine bust

The three men who were arrested on Wednesday with a quantity of cocaine by members of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), made their appearance on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
They were slapped with several charges including possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and illegal possession of guns and ammunition.
The three accused – Aundre Singh of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara; Clifford Gouveia of Little Abary, East Coast Demerara; and Oneil Charran of Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown; all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The court heard that on October, 3 while in the vicinity of the Rupert Craig Highway, the three men had 5.582 kilograms of cocaine in their possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Another charge was read which stated that on the said day, CANU ranks carried out a search at Singh’s Diamond, East Bank Demerara house where an additional 6.6 grams of the cocaine were unearthed.
Other charges stated that on the day in question, the men also had in their possession two unlicensed firearms – a pistol and a .32 Taurus revolver with several matching rounds.
Attorney Leonard DaSilva who represented Charran in an application for bail told the court that the drugs along with the unlicensed firearms were not found on his client but rather in a vehicle that was accessible to several others during the course of the day.
However, Attorney Latchmie Rahamat represented Singh and would have also made an application for bail on the premise that the drugs and other items were not found in the possession of her client. Gouveia was unrepresented.
State Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford objected to bail being granted to the men while informing the court that the men have been under CANU surveillance for a long time.
Further, she noted that the men had provided the investigators with written statements after they were busted on Wednesday.
Moreover, the prosecution’s submission was upheld by Magistrate Latchman and the men were all remanded to prison until October 17.
On Wednesday last, CANU agents intercepted two cars on the Rupert Craig Highway in the vicinity of Kitty seawall with a quantity of cocaine, guns and ammunition. As a result of the operation, three males were taken into custody.
Based on information received, Singh and Charran were in a white Toyota Premio car bearing registration number PSS 8977, while Gouveia was the driver of another motorcar PLL 5213. At the time, a box was being transferred from one car to the other.
Ranks of CANU swopped down on the operation and intercepted a box containing five suspected bricks of cocaine and beauty soaps. Upon weighing the cocaine, it amounted to 5.582 kilograms.
However, the home of Singh was subsequently searched and a further 6.6 grams of suspected cocaine, along with US$5000 and GY$3 million were found.
In addition, one Taurus Revolver with matching ammunition and one Pistol with matching ammunition were discovered in another section of Singh’s house.