Venezuelans on trial for trafficking 687 kgs of ganja

THE DEFENCE representing five Venezuelans on trial for trafficking 687.2 kilogrammes of marijuana, yesterday cross-examined two officers of the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU), for most of the day’s hearing in the San Fernando Fourth Criminal Assizes. The battery of defence attorneys — comprising Vernon De Lima, Joseph Pantor, Ian Gray and Farraz Mohammed — kept Sgt Edward Castillo and PC Cassius Bristol on the witness stand before the mixed jury hearing the case.

On trial are Hamilton Guiterez, Miguel Alberto Pino, Jesus Inocente Hernandez, Amancio Angel Castillo Garcia, and Ismael Brito Pino, before Justice Malcolm Holdip in the Fourth Criminal Court. Ismael Brito Pino was additionally charged with posession of a Smith and Wesson pistol and 13 rounds of ammunition. The five were arrested on May 30, 2000, at the Mosquito Creek, South Oropouche, by a team from the Organised Crime and Narcotics Unit (OCNU), led by Sargeant Castillo. The State’s case is that the five Venezuelans were held during an OCNU stake-out operation in near to the Mosquito Creek. According to the State, the policemen took up strategic positions on the river banks while a Coast Guard vessel waited in the Gulf of Paria near the Godineau Bridge.  Around 2.40 am a boat was seen approaching the Creek, and after a exchange of gunfire, police intercepted the foreign vessel. Police arrested the five Venezuelans after searching the boat. They allegedly found 687.2 kilogrammes of marijuana on board. The trial continues today.