Bajan man who had been linked to drug ring with Guyanese found dead

A Barbadian man, Frederick Christopher Hawkesworth, who had been accused of involvement in a drug ring with several Guyanese in 2004 was found dead on the island on Saturday with a suspected bullet wound to the head.

The Barbados Nation on Tuesday said that the police are reporting a major breakthrough in their investigations into the death of Hawkesworth.

A number of people are currently assisting with these investigations.

The report said that the body of Hawkesworth of Rock Dundo Heights, St Michael was discovered last Saturday evening in the car he had been driving, parked off the road in a bushy track which leads from Mullins Road to Bakers, St Peter.

He was allegedly shot in the back of the head.

Hawkesworth had waged a long and eventually successful battle to avoid extradition to the United States on drug charges.

In 2004, Sean Gaskin, Hawkesworth and John Wayne Scantlebury were indicted in the US along with Guyanese Raphael Douglas and Terrence Sugrim. The men were being sought for trafficking between Guyana, Barbados, St Lucia and the US and it was alleged that they committed the crimes between January 1999 and March 27, 2004.

While the Barbadian trio was fighting extradition, Douglas had pleaded guilty to his charges in the US and was sentenced to time served. He was then deported to Guyana. Sugrim fought his extradition from Guyana and was released on bail in the High Court.