The persons who were on the boat that crashed into another boat and left four persons dead in the Berbice River on Tuesday evening were charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking on Thursday when they appeared at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court.
The men have been identified as: Marvin Kissoon, 39, a boat captain and fisherman of Lot 8, Sheet Anchor; Kevin Archer, 20, a labourer of Maria Henrietta Village, Berbice River; Ramnarine Punwassie, a 23-year-old labourer of Lot 12 Palmyra; Carl Williams, 51, a fisherman of Lot 6 Adelphi Settlement; and Netram Punwasie, 38, a carpenter/ mason of Lot 12 Palmyra Village.
The men pleaded not guilty after the charge was read by Magistrate Peter Hugh via Skype. They were remanded to prison and will make another court appearance on May 7.
At approximately 18:45 hrs on Tuesday, the boat, captained by Kissoon was proceeding north along the Berbice River with four occupants, while the wooden boat with the other occupants were proceeding south.
Moments after Kissoon said he and the others in his boat re-entered their boat and fled the scene.
The boat belonging to the others broke into pieces and the men failed to resurface.
The bodies of the men were subsequently recovered. They have been identified as: Freeman Denheart, 55, a farmer of Sandhill Berbice River and his son 24-year-old Romario Denheart, a land surveyor attached to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure; 40-year-old Kidman Lindie, a farmer; and 40-year-old Julian Mckenzie of Sandhill, Berbice River.
Police, acting on information, went to Edinburgh Village, East Bank Berbice and arrested three of the four occupants; the fourth was subsequently arrested.
They were found in possession of thirty- two taped parcels of suspected cannabis which when weighed amounted to 36.97 kilograms.
