No bail for fish food cocaine shipper

By Bhisham Mohamed

Gilbert Bristol, 36, an exporter of Lot 154 Garnett Street, Kitty, Georgetown, was on Monday remanded to prison for the 233kg of cocaine that was found among fish feed at the Guyana National Shipping Corporation (GNSC) last Friday.
He made an appearance before acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him. The particulars of the charge stated that on December 7 at the GNSC Wharf, Gilbert Bristol trafficked 233kg of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Remanded shipper Gilbert Bristol

The defendant was represented by Attorney Latchmee Rahamat who told the court that her client is a licensed importer and exporter and is also involved in construction work. She argued that her client has no connection to the drugs found nor does he have any pending matter before the court.
Rahamat made a bail application for her client on the basis that the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) did not have evidence against her client to prove the illicit drugs were in his possession.
In addition, she told the court that her client is suffering from a medical complication and if he is incarcerated, the prison service might not be able to provide the appropriate medication.
In his rebuttal, CANU prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that contrary to the submission made by the defence, the anti-narcotics unit was told that the defendant was a labourer.
He confirmed they are cognisant that the defendant has a medical complication, but he failed to produce any documents to support his claims. Nevertheless, he assured the court that the prison service is well-equipped to deal with a variety of illnesses.
Massiah stated that the defendant has an export and import licence operating out of the aforementioned address, but after several checks revealed no indication that business is conducted at the location.
The CANU prosecutor highlighted that they are in possession of evidence bearing the defendant’s name while he was attempting to make arrangements to export the fish food. “No other names are on the documents to show differently,” Massiah added.
In addition, he revealed that the product involved was processed by an enterprise on the East Coast of Demerara.

Caught
In presenting the facts of the case, Massiah explained that on December 7, at the GNSC wharf, Bristol was in the process of making arrangements to ship 1500 bags of fish feed to China.
He disclosed that the Customs Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) as is customary carried out an inspection on the 1500 bags that were packed in three containers.
During the scanning process, a strange substance was noticed by the law enforcement ranks, thus members of CANU were immediately summoned.
During further inspection by CANU and CDEU of the goods in the presence of the shipper, eight bags containing suspected cocaine pellets were unearthed amongst the 1500 bags of fish feed. The pellets were seized and properly tested which confirmed the suspicions of the law enforcement officers. Bristol was then taken into custody. After his presentation, Massiah objected to bail.
The magistrate in her ruling remanded the defendant and set December 14 for his second court appearance.
On that day, a subsequent date will be earmarked for the commencement of the trial, which is expected to be lengthy since 11 witnesses are to testify.