The Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) employee, who granted access to the airport’s VIP lounge to a couple accused of plotting to traffic a large quantity of cocaine aboard a Fly Jamaica flight early last year, yesterday testified that he allowed them in although the documents they presented did not correspond with their flight details.
On trial are Mahendra Ramsuchit, Rohbina Basdeoram and Kenroy Joseph.
Ramsuchit and Basdeoram on January 30, 2015, sought to leave the country aboard a Fly Jamaica flight, bound for Canada, which they accessed via the VIP lounge, thereby evading security after leading airport staff to believe they were the relatives of a government official.
Ramsuchit and Basdeoram, who were intercepted, have been charged with possession of 10.392 kilogrammes and 10.968 kilogrammes of cocaine, respectively.
A few days later Joseph was apprehended and charged with aiding and abetting the two to traffic the quantity of cocaine, allegedly by presenting forged documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Airport Duty Office, claiming that he was carrying out protocol duties for the couple.
Joseph, who was previously employed as a personal assistant to Junior Agriculture Minister Ali Baksh for over two years, had allegedly presented identification bearing the name “Kenneth Jones.” Joseph was, however, reportedly positively identified by his co-accused as being the person to take them to the airport, and had also been identified using surveillance camera footage.
CJIA staffer Jeff McNorton, under cross-examination by attorney for Joseph, George Thomas, admitted yesterday that he had granted Ramsuchit and Basdeoram access to the tarmac, although the documents they presented did not correspond with the current flight details.
McNorton accepted that flight codes can be used to differentiate between two different flights, and that though the documents presented to him bore the code “BW,” which is associated with Caribbean Airlines, he gave the couple access to a Fly Jamaica Flight. He also admitted to allowing them to leave although the flight’s status was arriving and not departing.
McNorton said that he did not check to see whether the flight was in fact departing and, under re-examination by prosecutor Vishnu Hunte, said the protocol officer had told him that it was a mistake and the flight was in fact departing at that time.
The officer agreed that the letter that was presented to him specifically states that the protocol officer and driver are not granted access to the tarmac, but under re-examination he explained that the letter actually grants the officer access to the walkway which leads to the tarmac.
Thomas suggested to McNorton that the story he told about the defendant presenting him with a letter is incorrect, to which the witness disagreed. It was also suggested—and denied—that the reason McNorton granted persons access to leave on a flight that said ‘arriving’ was because he was involved in the plan and that the statement he gave to police one month later was to cover up the real perpetrators.
Lennox Harper, a customer service and boarding agent who was on duty on that day, also testified.
Harper said he had been the one to retrieve the couple from the plane after he spotted them boarding the aircraft from his position at the boarding gate.
Harper had just returned from a search of the duty-free area, the departure lounge and the outside of the airport, for six passengers who had failed to board the flight. Those passengers, he said, had not cleared immigration.
Harper said the two passengers—a male and a female, of Indian descent—disembarked the plane with their bags when he informed them that they needed to clear immigration.
Cross-examination was refused by Thomas, and the defendants.
With ten witnesses remaining, including some who are to be cross-examined, September 21 and September 27 have been set for the wrapping up of the trial.
