THE passports used by convicted drug trafficker Barry Dataram and his reputed wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, were not issued by the immigration authorities but belonged to two men who lost their travel documents recently, acting Crime Chief Hugh Jessamy told the Guyana Chronicle.The drug lord and his reputed wife had left the country with Guyana passports issued under different names. Dataram used passport–RO376916 under the name “David Persaud,” which stated that it was issued on April 15, 2013, while Boodnarine’s passport–RO341097–under the name “Christine Persaud ”stated it was issued on January 15, 2016.

The bio-data pages of both passports were tampered with, along with false immigration stamps. Reports reveal that one of the passports was stolen from a vehicle that was broken into while parked adjacent to the Kingston seawall. The owner, a Grove, East Bank Demerara resident had made a report to the police station that the passport was stolen. This was recorded by the police in a statement which corroborated his story when interviewed by detectives. However, the second owner of the passport who hails from Leguan, gave conflicting reports and explanations of why the passport was not in his possession. Police investigations are ongoing
Dataram, a self-confessed drug lord, was on September 27 found guilty by Magistrate Judy Latchman of being in possession of a quantity of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking; but prior to the magistrate handing down her decision, Dataram and Boodnarine fled the jurisdiction while on bail. Boodnarine was found not guilty of the cocaine charges. In his absence, Dataram was sentenced to 60 months imprisonment and fined one hundred and sixty-four million, two hundred and sixty- eight dollars (Gy$164,268,000).
On Tuesday, Dataram was sentenced to 12 months in jail for the forgery offence; 12 months for not presenting himself to an immigration officer and two years for attempting to defeat the administration of the law by leaving the country during his cocaine trial. The sentences will run consecutively, meaning that in addition to his current five years imprisonment for drug-trafficking, Dataram will spend an additional four years in jail.
Meanwhile, the charges read to the duo separately alleged that between September 20 and October 15, 2016, Dataram and his spouse attempted to default the administration of law to avoid the consequences of the matter they had before the court. It is further alleged that between April 15, 2013 to October 15, 2016, at Camp Street, Georgetown, with intent to commit a felony, he conspired with others to forge one passport in favour of himself, purportedly showing same to be issued by the Central Immigration and Passport Office. The duo was also charged with illegal departure, which stated that on September 20, at Springlands, they departed Guyana without presenting themselves to an Immigration Office. Boodnarine was also charged with forgery of a Guyana passport.

The Ministry of Citizenship on Saturday announced that it was launching an investigation to determine the circumstances under which Dataram and Boodnarine were issued fake passports. According to a release from the Ministry of the Presidency, subject Minister Winston Felix said those found culpable will face the harshest possible action. Dataram and Boodnarine were arrested in Suriname on Friday and handed over to Guyanese authorities. “The Ministry of Citizenship, which has responsibility for immigration services, inherited a number of challenges related to the integrity of systems when the new administration took office in May 2015, and [has] been working to correct these issues”, the release noted.