Duncan St man charged over 25 lbs cocaine, handguns
Trevor Rodrigues, the man held last Friday after a police search of his Duncan Street, Campbellville home unearthed a little over 25 pounds of cocaine as well as handguns and ammunition, was yesterday charged with drug trafficking and unlawful possession of munitions.
The charges against Rodrigues, which were read by city magistrate Annette Singh, stemmed from a domestic violence report on May 26, 2017.
Rodrigues, 32, was charged with being in possession of 11.363 kilogrammes of cocaine (equivalent to 25.05 pounds) for the purpose of trafficking.
He was also charged with having in his possession a 9mm pistol, a 9mm Glock and a .357 Magnum revolver along with matching ammunition without being a licensed firearm holder.
Rodrigues pleaded not guilty to each charge.
He was also charged with two counts of threatening language and another two counts of threatening behaviour, which he also denied.
A police press statement had said that it was a raid, which was carried out between 18:30 hrs and 21:00 hrs last Friday, which led to the discovery of the items.
However, during Rodrigues’ arraignment, the prosecutor stated that on the day in question, the defendant’s wife, Amanda Rodrigues, was threatened by him with a black handgun. Sometime later, the woman called a co-worker, who later went to their home and was able to take the gun from the man. The police, according to the prosecutor’s facts, were later notified and upon their arrival at the defendant’s home, they took possession of the gun and later conducted a search of the premises. During their search, the police found a 100-pound gas cylinder and a 20-pound gas cylinder with false bottoms. A search of the cylinders uncovered the cocaine.
The police also found the three guns and ammunition.
Although Rodrigues’ wife was also arrested after the raid, based on advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions, no charges were filed against her.
Bail was objected to by the prosecution based on the seriousness of the offences and their prevalence. As a result, Rodrigues was remanded to prison until June 13.