THE FOUR PERSONS CHARGED with the discovery of 890kg of ganja at the Kingston Wharves late last year will return to court February 24 when the case will again be mentioned.
Dwight James, 35-year-old truck driver from May Pen, Clarendon; Richard Spencer, 25-year-old truck driver from Canbury Avenue, Kingston 5, Paul Hewitt, 25-year-old dispatcher from Meadowvale Drive and Nkechi Blake, a shipper, are facing charges of possession, dealing and taking steps to export ganja arising from the incident.
Allegations are that on November 28, James, who owns an International truck, was given a job by Hewitt to take an empty 40-foot container from the wharf to the LoJ Complex on Marcus Garvey Drive, St. Andrew.
James was allegedly given a cargo integrity form, which he should have taken to the location, where he and Blake would agree on the time the container arrived and sign the form.
It is alleged that the container driven by James, left the security gate at Berth 11 at approximately 4:07 p.m. However, during a police interview with James, he denied taking the container to the LoJ complex. He, however, stated that he was instructed by Hewitt to leave the same container on the roadway outside the wharf. James alleged that he was paid $2,000 by Spencer, who has denied this.
James also alleges that he had been told by Hewitt to say the container had been delivered to the LoJ complex.
During a second police interview, James allegedly said that he had been given a cargo integrity form by Spencer when he took out the container on November 28. James alleges that Spencer came to him a day or two later, with the same form, saying he had not signed it. He then signed the section of the form that showed the container had been delivered to the LoJ complex on November 28.
After the detection of the contraband in December, Blake said in a voluntary statement that she had made contact with Spencer and she had booked a previous container on November 24. However, Spencer telephoned her and told her that he had lost that order. She further stated that she had to rebook another container, which was hauled to the LoJ complex on November 28 and both she and Spencer signed the integrity form when the container was delivered.
Investigations, however, revealed that the container did in fact arrive at the LoJ complex and stayed until 9:25 a.m. on November 29, and Blake and James had made a false declaration on the cargo integrity form.
Investigations have also revealed that whenever a container leaves the wharf for a specific location to be loaded with cargo for export, it should arrive in a reasonable time at the intended location and if there are delays, the truck driver should contact his employer who would in turn contact the shipper/exporter. It is also the shipper/exporter's responsibility to protect the integrity of any container he or she requests for export purposes.
The ganja was found concealed in the flooring of the container which contained a shipment of soy sauce, hot sauce and other food items. After investigations, all four were arrested and changed.
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