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alexk
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A Venezuelan who was held by police as he came off a boat in Cedros allegedly with $4.3 worth of cocaine, a gun and ammunition was yesterday denied bail when he appeared in the Point Fortin Magistrates Court.
Jimmy Alejandro Tapiero Hernandez, 27, admitted he entered the country illegally, through interpreter Luz Marina Tapias De Copilah, before First Court Senior Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan.
He requested a legal aid attorney when asked by the magistrate.
Hernandez is also charged with possession of 10.8 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of a Taurus pistol and five rounds of ammunition.
He was arrested in Cedros by officers of the Penal CID and South Western Division Task Force during an anti-crime exercise on Tuesday.
It is alleged that the police were on surveillance along Boleau Beach Road when the accused disembarked from a boat along the shoreline and walked towards a bushy area.
When the officers confronted him and searched his knapsack they allegedly discovered 10 packets of cocaine and the Taurus pistol fitted with a magazine containing five rounds of .380 mm ammunition.
The exercise was co-ordinated by Snr Supt Neville Adams and Supt Robert Phillip and supervised by Sgt Sheldon Ablacksingh of the Cedros police district.
Charges were laid by Cpl Clyde Harripersad while the illegal entry charge was laid by Cpl Ramesh Chaitramsingh of the Immigration Division.
Prosecutor Jessie Jitmasingh gave the magistrate a description of the exhibits. Hernandez was remanded into custody to reappear in court on Monday.