Two foreign pilots were on Tuesday charged with illegal entry to the country and possession of narcotics.
Juan David Caicedo Villa, a 32-year-old pilot of Villavicencio, Colombia and Gustavo Adolfo Riascos Gomez, a 48-year-old pilot/businessman of Tachira San Cristobal, Venezuela were taken before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. The duo was charged with illegal entry to the country and possession of two grammes of marijuana. They were remanded until November 16.
According to a previous report by this newspaper, on November 4, the two men entered Guyana via an unregistered aircraft which landed at the Mahdia airstrip in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) at 18:00hrs. The two men were taken into police custody. The Guyana Police Force reported that the ranks of Mahdia Police Station observed the aircraft circling the airstrip in an attempt to land at about 18:00 hrs on Thursday.
As a result, the police said ranks immediately went to the airstrip and on arrival around 18:05 hrs, a six- seater Piper aircraft was seen on the ground in front of Trans Guyana’s hangar. The two foreigners were standing in front of the aircraft talking to the security guard and ramp attendant. The men allegedly told the police that they were lost and were going to look for gold.
The men were later identified. The police also conducted a search on the aircraft and found that it contained three 15-gallon drums – two of which contained fuel – personal effects and two grammes of suspected cannabis with bamboo wrap. The items were lodged.
