Cocaine in fire extinguisher: Timehri man pleads guilty, friends freed

Twenty-eight-year-old Dinesh Dias known as ‘Anil’ of lot 26 Timehri, East Bank Demerara, on Friday pleaded guilty to having 1.8 kilogrammes of cocaine and 1.89 grams of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking on April 23.

He was charged jointly with Anthony Collins called Black Boy, 31; Seenarine Mathura called Desi, 43 and Mohamed Insha,48 but they were all released from Police custody following Dias’ guilty plea at the Providence Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Sunil Scarce.

The men were arrested at Dias’ house by ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) after the drug enforcement agency found a fire extinguisher filled with 1.8 kilogrammes of cocaine.

Dias was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment and slapped with a $5.1M fine on the cocaine charge and fined $15,000 or face one-week imprisonment for the possession of cannabis charge.

Dias told the court that his three friends had no knowledge of the cocaine and the cannabis which were at his house.

CANU said it is believed that the cocaine-filled fire extinguisher was expected to be placed on an aircraft at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and that it was destined to an international destination.