Customs Officer arraigned for cocaine-in-mail

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

A Customs Officer was Wednesday arraigned on a charge of being in possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Clive David of 22 Princess Street, Lodge, Georgetown pleaded not guilty to the charge for the offence he allegedly committed between April 9 and 11 at the Guyana Post Office Corporation.

He is accused of being in possession of 647 grammes of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.

City Magistrate, Ann Mc Lennan refused bail because no special reason was given and remanded him to prison until May 19 when he would appear before Chief Magistrate, Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Defence Lawyer, Lance Ferreira failed in his efforts to secure bail for the employee of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the past nine years. Ferreira said his client was given the mail by a friend to post and he left it on his desk at Timehri.

Police Prosecutor, Dinero Jones told the court that the defendant signed a confession statement because he knew that the substance was in the envelope. He said investigations were incomplete nd the analyst report was not yet available.

The GRA has said that a Customs Officer has been caught on camera taking a US$1,000 bribe at the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) to allow the cocaine to pass.