Elderly American, Burrowes School of Art model charged with cocaine-in-achar trafficking

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 20:59 by GxMedia

An elderly Guyana-born American man and a model at the Burrowes School of Art were Monday separately arraigned for allegedly attempting to smuggle cocaine in achar to the United States (US).

They are 78-year old Winston Blades of 121 Meadow Brook Gardens, Georgetown and 38-year old Sadika Leona Odie of 138 Thomas Street, Kitty, Georgetown were arraigned for being in possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking on February 8, 2014 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

They were refused bail and remanded to prison until February 14.

Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor Oswald Massiah said Blades had in his possession 10.658 kilogrammes of cocaine. He said a woman named Dawn offered to pay Blades’ air fare and on February 6 went to his residence and arranged for him to deliver the package on February 8. Massiah said Blades and Dawn went to the airport where his bulky bag was checked. On piercing the bag, he said CANU officers saw objects such as nutmeg-shaped seeds that contained the cocaine.

Defence Lawyer Mark Waldron urged that bail be granted because Blades was unaware of the contents of the package. He said the prosecution would have to prove that Blades was aware of the contents or had reasonable knowledge of it.

Odie, a mother of five, pleaded not guilty to being in possession of 9.274 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The CANU Prosecutor said Odie arranged with someone in Guyana and offered US$10,000 to transport two packages concealed with seeds mixed in achar to the United States. According to the prosecutor, Odie was paid an advance of US$4,000 and given an airline ticket to New York.

Defence Lawyer Paul Fung-a-Fat asked the court for an early date for the trial to begin.