– told court she was offered US$15,000 by Mark ‘Polo’ to transport the illegal substance to Barbados

NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Anastasia Latoya Crawford of Lot 29 Fort Street, Kingston, was yesterday remanded to prison following a drug bust, last Wednesday, at Ogle International Airport, East Coast Demerara. The unemployed defendant appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry charged with two counts of trafficking in narcotics.

She pleaded not guilty to both, one of which said that on Wednesday May 21, at Ogle International Airport, she had in her possession 5.574 kilogrammes (kgs) of cannabis sativa (marijuana) for the purpose.
Crawford also denied that, on the same day, she had 2.286 kgs of cocaine to traffick.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the Court, on that day around 13:00 hrs, the defendant was an outgoing passenger to Barbados on Liat Flight 512 carrying a suitcase and a haversack.
The suitcase was checked by a CANU officer but nothing of evidential value was found. However, the haversack contained nine taped packets and one of them he punched in her presence contained suspected marijuana and the defendant was told of his suspicion and cautioned.

REMAINED SILENT
The Prosecutor said Crawford remained silent for a while and then broke down in tears. Shortly after, she and the narcotics were transported to the CANU Headquarters for further investigations and questioning.
Eight of the remaining packets were searched and three of them had cocaine, the Court was told.
According to the prosecutor, when questioned, the defendant said she had been offered US$15,000 by someone called Mark ‘Polo’ to transport the illegal substance to Barbados and received an advance of G$50,000, with the remainder to be received on her arrival in the Caribbean island.
The defendant was represented by attorneys-at-law Mr. Euclin Gomes and Mr. George Thomas, with the former requesting reasonable bail for their client.
But the application was denied, on the ground that no special reason was advanced to the Court and the case was transferred to Sparendaam Court for May 27, pending report and fixture as Crawford is on remand in prison.
Since then, a wanted bulletin has been issued for ‘Polo’, of Cooper Street, Albouystown, also in Georgetown and CANU is requesting information on his whereabouts.

(By Geeta Rampersaud)