Drug trafficking charge against businessman dismissed

A drug trafficking charge against businessman Gavin Blackman was on Friday dismissed by Magistrate Faith McGusty due to a lack of evidence.

Blackman’s lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, issued a release on the ruling.

Blackman was charged by the Customs Anti- Narcotics Unit (CANU) in May 2018 for trafficking 1.1 kilogrammes (or about 2.4 pounds) of cocaine. He has been before the Courts since then.

CANU reportedly alleged that Blackman was under its surveillance for a long time and on May 4, 2018, Officers said they saw him collecting and transporting a black plastic bag containing what was suspected to be narcotics from an unknown vehicle. THe CANU Officers reported that Blackman transported the bag to Norton Street, Georgetown but when they tried to apprehend him, he fled down an alleyway.

Blackman, it was further noted, ran up a house’s staircase and threw the bag into the house. He was afterwards arrested; a sum of $880,000 that he had on him and his motor vehicle were also seized.

A CANU Officer found a black plastic bag similar to the one Blackman threw into the house in a neighbour’s yard. In this bag, the ranks discovered a bricklike object which tested positive for cocaine during a field test conducted by an officer.

The CANU agents, however, found nothing illegal on Blackman’s and inside the house where the bag was thrown.

Dhurjon argued before the Court that there was nothing “nefarious” about the parcel seen in Blackman’s possession and said Blackman was not obligated to stop when the CANU Officers, who were not in uniform, shouted at him,

Dhurjon said those Officers shouted, “CANU, don’t move!” but noted that CANU is an entity unknown to statute.

It was also noted that the Norton Street house where the narcotic was found was raided several times before.

When reflecting on the evidence during Friday’s hearing, the Magistrate reportedly said she could not speculate that the bag found with the cocaine was the same one Blackman had due to a lack of evidence.

“Mr. Blackman, in an invited comment, remarked that he is pleased that justice is served and that he takes all steps possible to steer clear of the wrong side of the law,” the release noted.