The Caribbean Airlines clerk who allegedly checked in a cocaine-filled suitcase and tried to pass it off as belonging to an outgoing passenger appeared yesterday in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on a charge of trafficking in narcotics.
Terry Ramjohn, 34, of Lot 64 Providence, East Bank Demerara, denied the charge when it was read to him by Magistrate Hazel Octive Hamilton who subsequently remanded him to prison.
It is alleged that on Sunday at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, Ramjohn had 3.518 kilos of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Ramjohn made his way into the courtyard shortly after 3 pm yesterday accompanied by a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) officer. After spending no more then two minutes in the lockups, he was taken before the magistrate to have his matter heard.
During the hearing, which lasted close to 20 minutes, Ramjohn had a blank expression on his face and was very calm.
Ramjohn is a check-in/customer service representative for Caribbean Airlines and is stationed at the airport. Among his many tasks is checking in passengers and their luggage for flights.
On the day in question, he was the check-in agent for a flight to JFK airport, New York, via Port of Spain.
During the check-in procedure, a suitcase was found in an area where processed suitcases are supposed to be.
The suitcase was labelled with a baggage tag generated by computers belonging to Caribbean Airlines but when the passenger was contacted, he denied ownership of it. CANU officers searched it and discovered the drugs concealed in items inside.
An investigation was launched and Ramjohn was later arrested.
This newspaper was informed yesterday that more persons are likely to be placed before the court shortly for the same offence and the matter is engaging the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Attorney-at-law Vic Puran who entered an appearance for Ramjohn made an application for all the computer tags for that day to be preserved as evidence.
According to Puran, this evidence would be required for the preparation of the defence and it would be severely prejudicial if they were to be dissipated when the defence is to be led, and they were required.
CANU Prosecutor Oswald Massiah responded that he was not sure if Puran’s application had anything to do with the prosecution or if it had been made in the proper court.
“Having said so, the prosecution intends if and when the time comes to have this matter ventilated, to call the appropriate witnesses and to seek to tender the relevant exhibits,” he said, adding that the prosecution would not need all the generating tags for the BW424 flight on that day to make its case against the defendant.
He stressed that the preservation of the generating tags was not relevant to the prosecution’s case, but was the burden of the defence.
Puran said the tags were in the custody of and only accessible to the state. He said the defence did not have access to this evidence.
The magistrate after listening to both sides said she would give Massiah a chance to enquire about the tags and seek advice so he could address the court on the issue on the next occasion. She said she did not want to be premature in her judgment.
The matter will continue on December 5 at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.
