CANADIAN citizen Errol George Laird was remanded to prison yesterday, by Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, on a charge of trafficking in narcotics.
He pleaded not guilty to the offence, which alleged that, on September 30, at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, he had 1.548 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court, the defendant arrived in Guyana on September 24 and was staying at a city hotel.
But he was an outgoing passenger on a flight to Trinidad and Tobago en route to Canada when his suitcase was scanned and the illegal substance was found in a false wall at the bottom.
The prosecutor said, on receipt of additional information, a CANU officer checked the hotel where Laird had stayed and found another suitcase with the defendant’s clothes inside.
Defence Counsel Vic Puran requested that the defendant be kept at the Lusignan Prison and not at Camp Street, as he is concerned about his safety at the latter.
The magistrate, however, made no pronouncement on that issue but ordered Laird to return on October 18.