Former Roraima Airways baggage handler freed of cocaine conspiracy charge
A city magistrate yesterday cleared former Roraima Airways baggage handler Kennard De Jonge of a conspiracy to traffic narcotics charge.
The charge against De Jonge had alleged that between February 1, 2016 and February 2, 2016, at Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he conspired with others to traffic a quantity of cocaine.
Magistrate Judy Latchman, who presided over the Preliminary Inquiry, dismissed the charge after finding that the prosecution failed to prove its case against De Jonge.
On February 19, 2016, immigration officers Oral David, of Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara; Orin Parris, of Timehri; Raduskie Wright, of Number 77 New Housing Scheme, Corriverton, and security officer Diane Jackson, of Soesdyke Public Road, East Bank Demerara, were charged with conspiring to traffic 1.3 kilogrammes of cocaine found aboard a Dynamic Airways flight.
Days after the four were charged, the police had issued a wanted bulletin for De Jonge, who was a baggage handler for Roraima Airways, which was the ground handler for Dynamic Airlines here.
A baggage handler at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York had discovered the cocaine in a small, unidentified package in the cargo hold of the Dynamic plane on February 2, 2016. It is believed that the drug was smuggled onto the plane by someone who was not a passenger as it was found not in luggage, but by itself in the baggage hold.