Five accused of drug trafficking at Parika granted bail

Three of the five men who were charged for allegedly trafficking over 100 pounds of cocaine and cannabis at Parika, East Bank Essequibo, have been granted $2M bail each.  Two others had been granted bail before.

Khemraj Lall, 39, Marlon Lawrence, 36, Rajendra Persaud, 47, Cleve Thornhill, and Doodnauth Chattergoon, 36, were charged with trafficking 13.8 kilogrammes (equivalent to 30 pounds) of cocaine  and 35 kilogrammes (77 pounds) of cannabis on June 6th, at Parika.

The five men had been remanded to prison by Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool on June 12 after all but Thornhill pleaded not pleaded guilty to the charge; Thornhill who was the alleged captain of the boat that transported the two drums containing the drugs, admitted to transporting the drums with the caveat that he had no knowledge of what was inside them.

Thornhill had told the court that he was instructed to transport the drums from Charity to Parika, where he would later pass it off to a waiting taxi at the Parika wharf.

 However, Stabroek News understands that Lall, Thornhill and Lawrence were yesterday granted bail after appearing before Magistrate Rochelle Liverpool at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court, while Chattergoon and Persaud had been granted High Court bail in the sum of $1.5M and $1M respectively, approximately two weeks ago.