The consignment of timber in which 120 kg of cocaine was discovered was shipped to the United Kingdom on the MV Antilles which left here on May 9.

The Caerphilly Magis-trate’s Court was told recently that the cocaine with a street value of 8 million pounds sterling/$1.9 billion was secreted in a consignment of mora logs.

The court heard that Lebert Barrows the Jamaican businessman, who is one of seven men charged with the importation of the cocaine into the United Kingdom, had travelled to Guyana in January and February 2002 as well as on April 26, when he allegedly finalised arrangements for the May 9 shipment. With Barrows before the court are Gerald Davies, Anthony Chambers, Michael Silcox, Milton Wilson, Joseph Salmon, and Mohamed Afzal Shaheen.

The court was told that Davies and Silcox own STS - to which the timber was consigned - and that Barrows and Chambers are the owners of city properties and the lessees of Astro Business Centre. Salmon on June 7, the day the seven were arrested, invested 25,000 pounds sterling in city properties.

The Police are still awaiting information from the British authorities to conduct investigations at this end. Last week Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj and Police Commissioner Floyd McDonald said that they expected the information to be supplied shortly as well as a request from the British Police for help with their investigations in Guyana.