A DRIVER employed at Water Chris Restaurant, and a security guard attached to Roraima Airways, have been charged in connection with the recent drug bust at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
After cocaine was found wrapped in Delta Airlines blankets, Mark Fredericks, 51, of Lot 310 Republic Park, also on the East Bank Demerara and Sydney Matthews (no address given) appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry yesterday.
Particulars of the joint charge, to which they pleaded not guilty, said, on September 3, at CJIA, they both trafficked in one kilogramme 856 grammes of the narcotic.
Police Sergeant Gordon Mansfield, prosecuting, said, that day, around 05:30hrs, Fredericks left Water Chris in Georgetown to deliver meals for the airline and was in possession of a Delta Airlines bag.
The prosecutor said Matthews was then seen with the same bag, which he threw onto a forklift and a female security guard was attempting to search it when Fredericks made a desperate attempt to retrieve it.
The prosecutor said the female security guard took possession of the bag and conducted a search which yielded the prohibited substance wrapped in Delta blankets.
He said the men were arrested because they both came into contact with the bag.
Defence Counsel Glenn Hanoman, for Matthews, claimed he cannot disclose any personal information about the latter because his life was threatened but requested an early trial date.
Defence Counsel Roger Yearwood, representing Fredericks, said the defendant has been driving for Water Chris over 20 years and was never before the Court for any such allegation.
Yearwood declared he does not know how the prosecution intends to prove that Fredericks was in possession of the drug, but the prosecutor maintained that no special reason was advanced for bail to be granted and the case was transferred to the Providence Court, on East Bank Demerara, too, for October 7.