Drug smugglers get day in court

Two Trinidadian men who were caught smuggling 170.1 kilogrammes of marijuana into Barbados have admitted to committing the crime.

Justin Richard Yearwood, of Lattorquette Heights, Glencoe, Diego Martin and Darius Conrad Peters, of Toco Main Road, Balandra Village told Justice Randall Worrell they were guilty of that offence, as well as trafficking and having possession of the illicit drug on February 1, 2017.

Acting on information lawmen ventured to Lighthouse Road, Ragged Point, St Phillip around 6:15 p.m. and intercepted Yearwood, a farmer; Peters, a fisherman; and another man. Two of the men were inside the vehicle, which had its back facing the seaside, while the other person stood outside.

In the open back of the pick-up were a number of bulky packages. Crown Counsel Neville Watson said lawmen told Peters of their suspicion and arrested and took him into custody. In total there were six black plastic packages containing vegetable matter suspected to be cannabis. When asked to account for it, Peters said they brought from Trinidad on board a vessel which has run aground between some rocks.

Speaking further with police he explained that he “just come in on a boat. The captain and Justin is who in charge of the boat not me.” He said that the other two men were able to escape on seeing the police but he was unable to do so because the door was locked. “I don’t know the captain’s name”.

Yearwood, meantime, according to the prosecutor, was caught over two months later, on May 16, 2017, at the Grantley Adams International Airport and his Trinidadian passport confiscated. He admitted on questioning that he and the other men “bring the marijuana” however he was tightlipped about any other information pertaining to the drug. “Officer you want to get me killed? I ain’t no informer!”

The men who are represented by attorney-at-law Andrew Pilgrim Q.C., will reappear before Justice Randall Worrell, in the No.2 Supreme Court, on January 31, 2020 when a presentencing report is expected to be read to the court along with the time spent on remand.