THE trial of motorcycle racer Stephen Vieira and three other men, including a former customs official, for trafficking cocaine continued on Monday with fresh evidence being led by a Customs Anti-narcotics Unit (CANU) officer.

Customs Officer Sherwayne De Abreu of Section ‘A’ Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown; Vieira of Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown; businessman Tazim Gafoor and his son, Nazim Gafoor, a motor car racer, both of Menzies Street, Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, are on trial for aiding Hakim Mohamed to traffic 84.986 kilograms of cocaine between March 1 and May 2, 2017.
The men are being represented by attorneys-at-law Latchmie Rahamat, Everton Lammy-Singh, Glen Hanoman and Nigel Hughes. The matter is being presided over by Magistrate Rushelle Liverpool in the Leonora Magistrate’s Court with evidence being led by CANU Prosecutor, Kunyo Sandiford.

The officer (name stated) took the stand and disclosed that he had done over seven hours of surveillance on the vehicle with the drugs on May 2, 2017, from the time it transited from the West Coast of Demerara to the East Bank of Demerara (EBD).
According to the CANU rank, on May 2, 2017, he was instructed by his subordinate officer and subsequently, he along with other officers left CANU headquarters about 09:35 hrs in a surveillance vehicle and proceeded to the EBD to the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB).
He further stated that at 10:40hrs, while at Parika, he noticed a motor vehicle GSS 4748 in the village of Parika, East Bank Essequibo, transporting a quantity of lumber painted red with four men, including the driver inside. The witness disclosed that at 11:00 hrs the vehicle stopped at the GUY-America store at Meten-Meer-Zorg Public Road, WCD, for about 30 minutes and proceeded again across the Demerara Harbour Bridge at 12:35hrs and stopped at Bagotstown, EBD, for 40 minutes.

The vehicle, the witness noted, turned around and then proceeded back over the Harbour Bridge and stopped for one hour at the WCD side before heading to Windsor Forest, WCD, where because of rain it was forced to stop twice. About 15:00hrs, the vehicle stopped at Zeelugt, WCD, for about 40 minutes when Hakim Mohamed joined the vehicle. The witness revealed that they trailed the vehicle with the lumber inside to the home of Mohammed, where he saw the men offloading the wood.
The officer explained that he approached the men and identified himself as a CANU officer. He added that the men told him that the lumber was from Khan’s lumber yard at Parika. He explained that he searched the lumber then drilled a hole inside and found the suspected narcotics in packets. The matter will continue on March 28 with the officer’s testimony.
The four defendants are currently out on $5M bail each, which was granted by Chief Justice (Ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire in the High Court. They were first charged and remanded on May 30, 2017.

According to reports, the bust was made after CANU officials had received a tip-off on May 12 last year. When the ranks acted, dressed lumber boards were being packed onto a truck. The truck driver and porters were arrested, but were subsequently released after it was discovered that the vehicle and its workers were hired to transport the lumber.
The anti-narcotics agency in a release had said that ranks conducted a search on the parapet in front of the premises of Mohamed and searched a truck laden with several pallets of 1×6 dressed lumber boards, prepared for export. Several pieces of boards were drilled randomly by the ranks and a whitish substance was revealed (cocaine).
The lumber, belonging to Narine Lall, was packed at a sawmill located at Lookout, East Bank Essequibo, to be transported to a wharf in Georgetown and then shipped to the United States of America, CANU stated. According to reports, Vieira is listed on the shipping documents as a representative of the shipper, Lall. An arrest warrant has been issued for Lall, according to CANU. Tazim was placed before the court, charged for his role in another cocaine matter.

The 43-year-old man was charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice last September, following the discovery of over nine kilograms of cocaine.