Barry Dataram convicted for cocaine trafficking
– Reputed wife and friends freed
After months of trial, self confessed drug lord Barry Dataram was found guilty and fined for trafficking in cocaine.
Dataram was charged with his reputed wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, and their friends Trevor Gouveia and Komal Charran, for having 129.23kg of cocaine in their possession on April 16, 2015 for the purpose of trafficking.
However, only Gouveia and Chandan showed up to hear the ruling by Magistrate Judy Latchman yesterday. Neither Dataram nor his wife was present at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
In her ruling Magistrate Latchman noted that a prima facie case had not been made out against Boodnarine, Gouveia and Charran. She said that given the circumstance of insufficient evidence, the three latter accused were not guilty of the crime.
Magistrate Latchman, however fined the convicted drug lord (Dataram) $164,268,000 and sentenced him to 60 months’ imprisonment for being in possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Following the hearing, Gouveia and Charran walked briskly out of the courtroom. The men were obviously relieved at the outcome.
Barry Dataram
Dataram, a Guyana-born American, had successfully fought off efforts to extradite him to the United States of America to face drug smuggling charges.
Dataram is said to have since fled Guyana to neighbouring Suriname. Law enforcement authorities had confirmed that the man had travelled out of Guyana on false documents. The authorities are however, unsure whether his reputed wife had travelled with him.
At the previous hearing attorney for the defendants, Glenn Hanoman, made an application for leave of the court to withdraw services on the grounds that he was unaware of the whereabouts of Dataram and Boodnarine.
The lawyer said that he has not been able to communicate with the couple since their last court appearance. The application was granted by the court.
Hanoman, nevertheless, was still the attorney of the other two persons.
Dataram, also known as ‘Mogotani’, or Kevin Dataram, of 13 Vriesland, West Bank Demerara; his reputed wife, Anjanie Boodnarine, 19, of 79 Patentia, Housing Scheme, West Bank Demerara; Komal Charran, 20, of 265 Belle West, West Bank Demerara; and Trevor Gouveia of Best Village, West Coast Demerara, had all pleaded not guilty to a drug trafficking charge.
According to the allegation, on April 16, last, at 661 Fourth Avenue, Block X Diamond, East Bank Demerara, they allegedly had 129.23 kg of cocaine in their possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The couple was arrested at their Lot 661 Fourth Avenue, Block X Diamond, East Bank Demerara residence. On the day in question, ranks from the Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) swooped down on the house and conducted a search in the presence of the defendants. During the search they unearthed the illicit drug.
It was reported that some of the cocaine was stuffed in frozen seafood, while the remainder was found to be bricks of raw coke.
As a result, Barry Dataram who was in the house at the time of the bust with his reputed wife and three other persons, was arrested. The defendants were then told of the offence, arrested and charged.
