THE four men nabbed in the Corentyne, Berbice drug bust last Thursday made another  appearance before Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, yesterday, and were further remanded to prison. Salim Bacchus alias ‘Black Salim’, of Line Path, Skeldon, Corentyne; Canadian citizen  Narayan Jarbandhan, of Lot 11 Gordon Street, Kitty, Georgetown; Gary Belgrave, of Section ‘C’ Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara and Leo Hernandez, of Block X Section ‘C’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara, all pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking when they appeared before Magistrate Geeta Chandan-Edmond last Friday.
Bacchus is charged separately with having, on November 3, trafficked in 41.856 kilogrammes of cocaine and the other three defendants faced a joint charge, which said they trafficked the same amount, on November 3, too.
Attonery-at-law Mr. Glen Hanoman, representing Bacchus, complained to the Court that the man was tortured and alleged that no account could be given for US$1,900 and documents he had in his possession when arrested.
The lawyer made an application for the issues to be investigated, and the magistrate so ordered before transferring the cases to Springlands Court for November 17.
On the last occasion, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah disclosed, to Magistrate Chandan-Edmond, that Jarbandhan was previously convicted of trafficking in narcotics, sentenced to five years imprisonment and fined $30,000 but has appealed the conviction and was granted bail pending the outcome of the appeal.
Bacchus is the brother of Azad Bacchus also known as ‘Ak 47′, who was killed in a shootout with the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) in 2001.
The latest cocaine bust was announced by Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee during an interaction with the media last Thursday.
CANU Head James Singh later confirmed that it occurred around 06:00hrs Thursday in the Crabwood Creek/Skeldon Line Path, Corentyne area.
He said, while more persons were arrested, initially, only four remained in custody and were then assisting with the investigation.
Singh said 40 kilogrammes of cocaine was seized in the operation which took place after the area had been under surveillance for a few days.
He said the cocaine originated from Guyana’s North West District and was believed to be en route to Suriname.