The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) has filed civil forfeiture proceedings against a Venezuelan woman, who was found in possession of a large amount of cash, suspected to be the proceeds of drug trafficking, at her East Bank Demerara residence in January last year.
Advertisements in both English and Spanish, which were published in yesterday’s edition of Stabroek News, advised Angelica Margarita Lara Malave of a February 18th hearing of the case by Justice Navindra Singh.
A law enforcement official has since informed that the whereabouts of the woman are unknown, hence, the publication.
The ads list Lot 285 Burrow Street, Republic Park as her address but Sunday Stabroek was told that she is not occupying that residence.
The ads asked Malave to take note that a fixed date application was filed against her on the 27th day of November, 2018, in the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature, at Georgetown, Demerara by the Commissioner of Police (the applicant).
The Commissioner, the ads state, is asking for continued detention of seized and detained currency, namely, Guyana $18,780, Bolivars 1,810,650 and US$79,311, seized and detained property of Malave— from the expiration date of the Civil forfeiture application filed on the 27th day of November, 2018, pursuant to Part 17 of the Civil Procedure Rules 2016.
The court is also being asked for any order as the Court may deem just.
Malave was further advised that upon application in person or by letter to Leslyn Noble, attorney for the Applicant, whose address for service and place of business is at SOCU, Camp Road, Eve Leary, Georgetown, Guyana, copies of the fixed date application will be delivered or sent to her.
She was also asked to take note that if she desires to defend the action, she “must forthwith within 28 days after the final publication for this notice, prepare an Affidavit in defence …prescribed in the Civil Procedure Rules 2016,” serve it on Noble and file it with proof of service at the Registry at Georgetown, Demerara, not later than four days before the date fixed for hearing of the application.
She was further advised that failure to file such an affidavit and or failure to appear at the hearing could see final judgement being given notwithstanding her absence.
On January 10th last year, Malave was one of seven persons, including four Columbian nationals, charged with aiding in the trafficking of 11 kilogrammes of cocaine, which was uncovered during a bust in Pomeroon, on the Essequibo River, on January 2. The aiding in trafficking charge against her was dismissed on May 22nd last year.
Based on the facts of the case, the drug bust was made after a raid was conducted at the Republic Park address. Mark Conway, the attorney for the women and two of the men, had argued in his bail application that there was multiple occupancy where the cocaine was found and it could not be established if the narcotics were found on his clients. In Malave’s case, he contended that she was at home in Republic Park when the raid was conducted during the first two days of the New Year. He said that the state did not have any evidence to link the woman to the bust.
Malave, whose address was given to the court as Caracas, Venezuela, was also charged with overstaying in the country by 53 days. She had pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $30,000.
Sunday Stabroek was told yesterday that law enforcement officials can find no record of the woman leaving Guyana, hence, a decision was taken to place at an ad in the newspapers.
One official said that it is suspected that the money is linked to a drug trafficking ring, as several of those charged were at the Republic Park residence. The official said that while the woman has insisted that the money was not hers, it was her residence and she was there when the raid took place.
Aside from the raid on the woman’s house, authorities also swooped down on a house in Pomeroon, where speed boats and engines, a car, mobile phones and a quantity of foreign and local currency were found.
The National Anti-Narcotics Agency subsequently stated that the currencies found at the two locations amounted to US$87,134, 1,081,605 Venezuelan Bolívars, 201,000 Colombian pesos, 7,362 Brazilian Reais, and $82,820.
On July 27th, 2018, the four Columbian men, Yeison Sanchez, 27, Reginaldo Jaramillo Rodrigues, 45, Jesus Amaya, 52, and Wilinton Reyes, who were freed of aiding in the trafficking of the cocaine were three days later fined for overstaying in Guyana. Reyes was also ordered deported after the payment of his fine.
