Ramp attendant charged:

"Taken from our C O U R T section.

A 35-YEAR-OLD employee of DHL Worldwide Express appeared in court yesterday charged with knowingly enclosing $14.8 million worth of cocaine in packets to be sent by courier to the United Kingdom.

Joseph Mc Donald, of Eastern Main Road, Tunapuna, appeared before a Justice of the Peace in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court late yesterday. He was brought to court by three plainclothes officers. It is alleged that on June 26, Mc Donald knowingly enclosed in packets, a dangerous drug, namely cocaine, to be sent by courier, contrary to section 17 of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

This is the first time that this section of the Dangerous Drugs Act has been used. In all other instances, persons caught were charged with trafficking and/or possession of the drugs.

Mc Donald was remanded in custody to reappear before Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court this morning. The accused appeared in court, wearing his DHL jersey.

His arrest followed months of surveillance by members of the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau. Mc Donald was intercepted in the San Juan area on Monday. The police allegedly seized nine large packets, containing over 60 DHL envelopes with the cocaine weighing 22 kilos. The cocaine was destined for England.

As a result, Mc Donald, a ramp attendant working at Piarco International Airport, was subsequently charged by ASP Franklyn Edwards.

Two months ago, British national Paul Samuels was arrested and charged with attempting to export cocaine to the United Kingdom. He was arrested at DHL in El Socorro as cocaine was allegedly being loaded into a box with car parts destined for London. Samuels was due to leave Trinidad on the day he was arrested. That case is still pending in the city court.