– remanded on trafficking charge

TISHANA Edwards of Lot 2 Victoria Road, Sparendaam, East Coast of Demerara was refused bail by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on a drug trafficking charge when she appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old mother of one pleaded not guilty to the offence that, on Sunday, February 23, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, she had in her possession 2.092 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The prosecutor of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Mr. Oswald Massiah, said the defendant had recently applied to work as an officer with CANU, but was not offered the job. He said she works with her mother, who is a cosmetologist; and on the day in question, she was an outgoing passenger on a Jamaica Airways flight destined for the JFK Airport in New York when she was busted.

Massiah said that during a procedural check at the airport, ranks manning the scanner detected two bottles of cream liqueur that contained strange objects. Checks revealed that the seals of the bottles were broken, and a further search revealed the amount of cocaine mentioned in the particulars, which was tested in the defendant’s presence.

Defence attorney, Mr. George Thomas was not present in court, but attorney-at-law, Ms. Denise Hodge, holding in his absence, said the defendant has a two-and-a-half-month-old baby that depends on her; but Prosecutor Massiah said the baby could be cared for by the woman’s relatives in her absence.

The matter was transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court for report and fixture tomorrow (February 28).

(By Geeta Rampersaud)