…case dismissed against wife

SELF-CONFESSED drug lord, Barry Dataram has been sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined $60,000 for the illegal possession 180 rounds of .223 ammunition on April 16, at Lot 661 Fourth Avenue, Block ‘X’ Diamond, East Bank Demerara, when he is not the holder of a firearm licence.Dataram was charged jointly with his wife, Anjanie Boodnarine; however Customs Anti-Narcotics Prosecutor, Kunyo Sandiford discharged the case against the wife.

The three years sentence for Dataram will run concurrently to the 60 months jail time he is currently serving for narcotics possession. The sentence was handed down by Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The court heard that the ammunition was found on the same day CANU ranks found 33 parcels of cocaine in an upstairs bathroom of the house along with 180 pieces in a blue baby tub and 92 pieces in a black garbage bag in the downstairs dining room, and 142 pieces in a freezer with shrimp in the outer yard area.

The cocaine amounted to 129 kilograms, which is equivalent to 284 pounds. Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan had also sentenced Dataram to 12 months for forgery of a Guyana passport, two years for absconding the law and 12 months for illegal departure.

Those sentences will run consecutively with the five-year jail term for being in possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. These charges were brought against him after he fled this jurisdiction to Suriname pending the outcome of a criminal matter of drug possession.

Boodnarine and Dataram were caught by authorities in Suriname and handed over to the police at Springlands. The two departed Guyana for Suriname via backtrack route at Springlands, pending the decision in their trial for cocaine trafficking. Dataram was found guilty of that charge, however Boodnarine was acquitted.