Guyanese in court for extradition

Raphael Christopher Douglas appeared before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court. Attorneys David West and Sunita Harrikis-soon appeared on behalf of the United States government, while Douglas was unrepresented.

No evidence was taken and the matter was ad-journed to August 8.

Douglas is one of five persons wanted by the US government for alleged cocaine trafficking be-tween Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia, and the United States. The others named on the indictment were Frederick Hawkesworth, John Wayne Scantlebury, Sean Gaskin, and Ter-rence Sugrim.

Douglas and the others were indicted on two counts in the US District Court on March 3, 2003.

It is alleged that be-tween January 1999 and March 27, 2004, in Barba-dos, Guyana, St Lucia, New York and elsewhere, Douglas and the others conspired with each other and with others unknown to the Grand Jury, to manufacture and distribute more than five kilos of cocaine in the United States.

According to details of the Grand Jury indictment, Hawkesworth was the leader of a drug trafficking organisation in Barbados which distributed cocaine and transported from Barbados, Guyana and elsewhere to the US. It is alleged that Douglas assisted Hawkesworth by supplying cocaine to the organisation by distributing cocaine in Barbados and elsewhere, and by shipping cocaine directly from Guyana to the United States.

It is also alleged that Sugrim assisted Douglas and Hawkesworth by co-ordinating the distribution of cocaine supplied by Douglas in Barbados and assisting with the distribution of cocaine directly from Guyana to the United States. The US also alleges that on September 20, 2003, Douglas and three of his co-accused shipped 184 kilos of cocaine from Guyana to JFK Airport.

According to court documents, Hawkesworth and Douglas attempted to send a test load of cocaine packed in a black nylon draw string bag from Guyana through JFK Airport on December 12, 2003.

Four days later, it was alleged that Hawkes-worth and Douglas at-tempted to send a test shipment of cocaine from Guyana to the US hidden in passenger luggage aboard a BWIA flight to New York.