AFTER more than three months on trial, two businessmen were on Tuesday sentenced to four years’ jail along with a $6M fine after being found guilty by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan of trafficking almost five pounds of cocaine in gas bottles.

Thirty-three-year-old Mark Gomes and 37-year-old Mohammed Kadir were on trial for having 2.250 kilograms of cocaine in their possession on March 29 at Sheriff Street. They were represented by attorney-at-law Mark Waldron and Glenn Hanoman respectively.
In April, Ryan Fowler, 33 had confessed to the charge when the matter was first brought before the Chief Magistrate and he was handed four years jail along with $6M fine.
Prosecutor for the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Konyo Sandiford, during her initial facts in court, noted that on the day at about 19:45hrs, ranks observed two vehicles parked suspiciously in the vicinity of Sheriff Street.

The court heard that Kadir exited motor vehicle PNN 2726 with a yellow gas cylinder and went over to the other vehicle, PMM 5807 which was being driven by Gomes with Fowler as a passenger.

CANU ranks subsequently intercepted the vehicle with the men inside, a search was conducted which unearthed the drugs hidden inside the gas bottle.
The magistrate during her ruling noted that Gomes and Kadir had knowledge and control of the drug in the matter in which the items were being transported and delivered.
The Magistrate noted that based upon the evidence Kadir transported the drugs to Gomes where they both acted in joint enterprise.

Sandiford made an application for the two vehicles intercepted during the bust to be seized in favor of the State on the grounds that the cars were used to traffic the drugs.
However the magistrate only ruled that Gomes’ vehicle, PMM 5807 be handed over to the State.

Last Thursday Gomes’ father, Andre ‘Zipper’ Gomes, a popular businessman was freed of a drug trafficking charge after Senior Magistrate Leron Daly dismissed the matter because of insufficient evidence. Last year too, the reputed wife of ‘Zipper’ was sentenced to four years in jail after she pleaded guilty to having a large quantity of cocaine at the Campbellville house where she lived.