CHARGES against Hutashan Ramsingh called “Shawn”, Wazim King and Nathan Hamilton were on Wednesday withdrawn by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack.
In a statement to the media, attorney Jerome Khan said the charges were withdrawn after he had argued that the charges were defective and a nullity, and were therefore incapable of being cured by amendment or otherwise.

Ramsingh, King and Hamilton were charged with the offence of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony under Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Offences) Act, Chapter 8:01.
The trio was accused of conspiracy to facilitate the landing of an aircraft at an unauthorised port of entry located at Mandacaro Island, Savannah, Region Nine. According to the charge, between August 10 and August 13, 2017, the men conspired with unknown persons to facilitate landing of the aircraft.

Meanwhile, after the charges were withdrawn by the DPP, new summary charges against the accused were filed under the Civil Aviation Act, Cap 53:01, and the men have been accused of unlawful establishment of an aerodrome at Mandacaro Islands, Region Nine.
The matter was heard at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court, Region Nine and Khan argued on a point of law that the Statement of Offence did not disclose any Statutory Offence of Conspiracy to commit a felony as alleged.

Citing authorities, the attorney also argued that it is not a felony to facilitate the illegal landing of an aircraft, whether at an authorised or unauthorised port of entry. As such, he contended that there can be no offence of Conspiracy to Commit a Felony.
He posited too that neither the provisions of the Civil Aviation Act nor the Immigration Act create any felony, as any offences under those acts are statutory offences which are neither felonies nor misdemeanors.

Moreover, Khan stated that the court had no jurisdiction to proceed to hear “an invalid charge, since the court derives its jurisdiction from the validity of the charge”. The trio subsequently pleaded guilty to unlawfully establishing an aerodrome and were fined $50,000 each.

In December 2017, the Guyana Chronicle had reported that after almost four months on the run, Ramsingh, the alleged mastermind behind the abandonment of a Beach King Air aircraft near Santa Fe, Rupununi in August 2017 was remanded to prison.
Ramsingh had appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and was not required to plead to the indictable charge which read that between August 10 and August 13, 2017 at Mandacaro Island Savannah near Santa Fe, Lethem, he conspired with persons known and unknown to facilitate the illegal landing of an aircraft on an unauthorised port of entry.

The accused, after being arrested and released on $50,000 bail had fled the country out of fear for his life, his attorney had said. The two other men, King and Hamilton, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman on September 15. They were charged with aiding and facilitating the illegal landing of an aircraft suspected to be involved in the trafficking of narcotics and firearm at an illegal port of entry.

A twin-engine aircraft bearing registration PR-IMG was discovered by the security forces mid-August, 2017 while police ranks were in the Santa Fe area, Rupununi, conducting a search when they stumbled upon over a dozen 10-gallon jars hidden in the bushes.
The party of policemen observed that a long strip of land had been cleared to make what looked like an airstrip. As the ranks were leaving, they saw an aircraft circling the cleared area. When they returned, they observed three men running from the plane after it had landed. The men managed to escape, but the aircraft was secured.

The lawmen upon searching the aircraft found a quantity of dry ration, medical supplies, gents clothing and footwear, two hand-held radios, flashlights, cellular phones and an identification card, among other items.

The discovery was made a week after soldiers had found another illegal airstrip, a chain saw, aviation fuel, 12 abandoned camps and several dug-out trenches in the same area.