A FORMER Government employee, 29 –year- old Kenroy Anthony Joseph, wanted by the police Narcotics Branch for facilitating the passage of cocaine through the VIP lounge of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, yesterday surrendered to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).The man, after extensive discussions with his attorney James Bond, walked into CID Headquarters, Eve Leary, just after 16.30hrs, so that he could be questioned in connection with the 20 grams of cocaine with which a couple was busted after they had successfully bypassed security checks by Customs.
It was reported that the couple had been facilitated into the VIP Lounge by Joseph; but when they boarded the flight, the flight attendant who was perusing the list of VIP passengers realised that the couple were not on the original list and as such they were ordered off the plane and instructed to go through the normal channel and layers of security checks before boarding the flight.
It was during that check that they were found to be acting in a suspicious manner and were pulled over by ranks from the Narcotics Branch of the Police Force who, upon examining their luggage and persons, discovered the cocaine.
When asked about their access to the VIP Lounge, the two indicated that they were facilitated in that process by Joseph, who by that time had fled the airport after realising that his buddies had been busted.
The police earlier this week issued a wanted bulletin for Joseph after checks at his home and other places to bring him in for questioning in relation to the matter were unsuccessful.
Prior to working at the airport, Joseph was employed as an assistant to Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Minister Ali Baksh.
After the news about the bust broke and Joseph’s link to the cocaine and the couple were made, the Ministry of Agriculture quickly made it clear that the man was no longer in the employ of the minister, nor was he performing any duties on behalf of the minister or Ministry of Agriculture.