The International Police Organisation (Interpol) has been granted ten days to probe Vikash Sharma, the US deportee who was allegedly held with over $1.6 million in drugs and four-high powered guns near the private residence of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Philippine last week.
Court prosecutor Veano Ragoo told the San Fernando Fourth Court yesterday that he had a text message from a US Interpol agent asking for two weeks to execute a trace on Sharma’s criminal record.
After protest from defence attorney Jason Jackson, Magistrate Seemungal Ramsaran allowed the prosecution ten days, saying it was necessary to know why Sharma was deported before determining if bail could be granted.
Sharma, 27, of Hermitage Village, San Fernando, is charged with possession of four firearms, ammunition, possession of cocaine and marijuana for the purpose of trafficking at his home at Hermitage New Settlement, San Fernando.
He was also charged with possession of ammunition, firearm components and marijuana at a house at SS Erin Road, Debe, on April 3.
The charges were laid by detectives Barry Bacchus and Larry Goddard of the San Fernando CID.
Jackson said it was unfair that his client had spent seven days in custody and police were now seeking a further 14 days for something they alone had the authority to do. He called on the court to disregard the April 3 charges, saying his client was in custody since April 1 after being arrested in Hermitage. Therefore, this meant that Sharma could not have been found in possession of anything at the house in Debe.
He said the onus was on the police to prove their case and asked the court to consider bail for the initial offences. The matter was adjourned to April 17.
The cache
A black Michael Jordan shoe box with 11 packets of cocaine
A block of cocaine wrapped in plastic
2 metal pots of cocaine, total weight of 2.376 kg
40 grammes of marijuana in a plastic bag
2 plastic packets of marijuana
1 Amadeus revolver
1 Taurus revolver
1 FN US Herstal pistol
1 AK-47 assault rifle
62 rounds of 742 ammunition
20 rounds of 5.6 mm ammunition
34 rounds of 9 mm ammunition
6 rounds of .357 ammunition
7 rounds of .38 mm ammunition
4 gun magazines
1 gun stump