Barbadian authorities carried out a sting operation to nab the six Guyanese held on the island on drug charges last week, according to a source.

HELD AFTER STING OPERATION: Clockwise (l-r) Christopher Bacchus, Diane Bacchus, Somwattie Persaud, Lemme Campbell, Gavin Greene and Rohan Rambarran. (Courtesy Barbados Nation)

The source yesterday stated that the authorities had discovered the drugs before the lumber was cleared through Customs but held off on acting until the shipment from Guyana was transported to a private residence in the parish of St. Michael's.

A raid on the residence carried out by Drug Squad of the Royal Barbados Police resulted in the arrest of five of the six suspects after the discovery of cocaine to the value of Bds$6.3 million, and marijuana worth some $743,600 on the premises. The sixth person subsequently was arrested at the Barbados Hilton Hotel. The total value of the drugs is more than US$3 million, officials said.

The arrested persons are Rohan Rambarran, Somwattie Persaud and her husband Lemme Campbell, Christopher Bacchus and his wife Diane Bacchus and Gavin Greene. The Bacchuses and Greene are resident in Barbados while Persaud and Campbell live in Guyana. It is not clear where Rambarran resides.

All six appeared before Magistrate Deborah Holder on Saturday. Rambarran has been charged with importation of drugs while the others have all been charged with possession and intent to distribute. Despite pleas from their attorneys, they were all determined to be flight risks by the Magistrate and were remanded to prison until December 15.

Persaud and Campbell made the news here in June of this year when Persaud reported that she was kidnapped from the couple's New Garden Street, Queenstown home by three armed men.

Persaud had claimed that the men had barged into her house looking for her husband. After she told them he was out of the country they ransacked the house taking $500,000 in cash, then abducted her subsequently releasing her in the South Ruimveldt area.

According to this newspaper's report on the abduction, Campbell was on a plane scheduled to depart for Barbados when he heard what had happened, and subsequently exited the aircraft to check on his wife and children.

Barbadian law enforcement authorities are not saying much about the present case except for the release of the most basic of details. The case, the source said, is most likely to be processed swiftly due to the size of the bust.

According to the source, there is no link between that shipment of lumber and the one searched by local Customs Anti Narcotic Unit (CANU) officials two weeks ago. CANU, acting on a tip, had unsuccessfully searched a shipment of lumber destined for Barbados for the allegedly concealed cocaine. Due to a booming construction industry in the Eastern Caribbean nation, Barbadian contractors rely heavily on shipments of wood from Guyana since that country does not produce construction quality lumber in any significant capacity.

The source said almost every day for the past few weeks there have been drug discoveries at Barbados ports; as the six Guyanese were facing the Magistrate on Saturday, a New York-based Trinidadian woman was charged with trying to import 4.1 kilos of cocaine. The woman reportedly had the drugs strapped to her body, and was picked up after she arrived on a flight from St. Vincent last week.

Contacted yesterday for his comments on the case, Guyana's Honorary Consul to Barbados, Mr Norman Faria said he had visited the six while they were being held at the Oistins Police Station and had provided "appropriate consular representation".

He declined to comment further on the case since it was before the courts.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005