THE reputed wife of convicted drug lord Barry Dataram appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, charged with smuggling contraband into the Mazaruni Prison.

Anjanie Boodnarine, 21, of 79 Patentia Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara, pleaded not guilty to the charge, which alleged that on March 31, 2017, she smuggled a pack of cigarettes for Dataram.

The mother of two was represented by Attorney, Adrian Thompson who explained to the court that his client was given a parcel to taken to her husband but did not know what was inside.

The Magistrate released Boodnarine on $150,000 bail and transferred the matter to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court for April 28, 2017.

According to reports, Boodnarine was reportedly in the process of attempting to sneak in a quantity of cigarettes in a sealed packet of ‘cheese stick’ when she was caught by prison officials during a mandatory check of the contents.

Dataram is currently serving a five year sentence at the Mazaruni Prison for cocaine possession, and an additional 48 months for forgery. He was also sentenced to three years after he was found guilty of possession of ammunition.

In 2016, Boodnarine was charged with possession of ammunition after one hundred and eighty .223 rounds of live ammunition were found in her Diamond, East Bank Demerara home. She was also charged for having 129.23kg of cocaine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.

However, Boodnarine and Dataram absconded to Suriname mere days before the trial Magistrate made her ruling in the drug possession case. The couple, however, was arrested and extradited to Guyana, where they were slapped with forgery related charges.