Good Hope furniture maker jailed five years for drug trafficking
Months after he was charged with trafficking almost 325 pounds of narcotics, Azim Baksh, a Good Hope, East Coast Demerara furniture maker was today sentenced to five years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of over $221M after he was found guilty of the crime.
The sentence was handed down by Magistrate Alicia George at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court yesterday afternoon following the completion of the trial, according to a release from the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU).
Baksh called “Bato” of Lot 123 Phase 1, Good Hope, ECD was found guilty of trafficking 82 parcels of cocaine weighing 91.132 kilograms and 98 parcels of cannabis weighing 56.008 kilograms.
He was sentenced to five years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of a sum of $221,621,520, said to be the street value of the narcotics.
The time Baksh spent while awaiting the completion of the trial, is to be deducted from the sentence.
The narcotics were found on July 14, 2018 at the Mon Repos channel, ECD by ranks of CANU.
CANU, in a statement had said that during the operation which was conducted in the wee hours of the morning, several locations along the East Coast seawall, which are used for the docking of fishing vessels, were reconnoitred.
Sometime around 4 am, the statement had said, a suspected fishing vessel was seen approaching a docking location in the Mon Repos channel and was intercepted.
At the time, two suspects were spotted in the boat.
While the boat captain, Farok Baksh escaped, Azim Baksh was detained.
Baksh’s wife was taken into custody for questioning but she was subsequently released.
Days after, CANU had issued a bulletin for Farok Baksh, known as ‘Dive and Shoot,’ whose last known addresses were given as 91 Pump Road, Mon Repos and 254 North Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara.
To date, he has not been apprehended.