US officials taped conversations between Guyanese drug accused Raphel Christopher Douglas and a DEA informant and on two occasions when Douglas promised to send cocaine to the US, empty black bags were sent.
On both occasions these were pounced upon by US Drug Enforcement Adminis-tration (DEA) officials.
This was alleged in an affidavit filed by DEA Special Agent Todd Meinken in support of an arrest warrant. Douglas was extradited to the US from Trinidad where he had fled after an extradition request was issued for him in Guyana.
According to the affidavit seen by this newspaper, between September 2003 and May 2004 in New York and elsewhere, Douglas who is also known as ‘Chris’ and ‘Chrissie’, together with others conspired to import cocaine into the US. It said Douglas and Barbadian Christopher Hawksworth headed a drug transportation and distribution organization. On September 20, 2003 184 kilogrammes of cocaine packed in frozen fish was seized at the JFK Airport in New York. And in October 2003, a DEA informant met Hawksworth and another target in Barbados. The informant posed as a drug dealer and had discussions about purchasing cocaine from them.
The first shipment was to be of 10 to 25 kilogrammes, which the target said could have been sent on a commercial flight from Guyana to New York. But Hawksworth wanted the test load to go from Barbados to New York. “During the meeting, the target also said that they had recently lost 180 kilogrammes when the shipment was seized in New York, which was believed to be in reference to the September 20, 2003 seizure at the JFK airport
