US accuses Dataram of smuggling 150 kilos cocaine to the US

Last Updated on Friday, 3 February 2023, 22:30 by Denis Chabrol

Guyanese drug trafficking convict Barry Dataram, who was nabbed in New York on arrival, is facing five counts related to his role in allegedly smuggling more than 150 kilogrammes of cocaine into that North American country.

“The offenses involved at least one hundred and fifty kilograms of a substance containing cocaine,” the indictment states.

The indictment states that he and others were “organizers and leaders of criminal activity that involved five or more participants and was otherwise extensive.”

The 45-year old Dataram, also known as “Kevin,” “Ledge” and “Fat Man,”  was arrested on January 26 on arrival at the John F. Kennedy International Airport and  is being held at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Centre, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.

While counts four and five in the indictment were blotted out, counts one and two state that between February 2001 and December
2003,  and April 2003 and June 2003 within the Eastern District of New York, he knowingly and intentionally conspired to import a controlled substance into the US  from a place outside thereof, which offense involved five kilograms or more of a substance  containing cocaine.

Dataram had previously resisted extradition to the US by challenging the process in the High Court.

He was later arrested, along with his common law wife, on charges of cocaine possession. He then fled to neighbouring Suriname using a forged Guyanese passport and failing to report to an immigration officer;

When Dataram was caught and returned to Guyana, he was charged with the immigration offences and defeating the administration of justice for all of which he was sentenced to three years imprisonment in addition to the five year jail term for drug trafficking that was imposed in his absence.