A third rank, implicated in the May 14 bust, was tried by the Coast Guard last week and recommended to be struck off strength (SOS).

Reports reaching Stabroek News yesterday state that Able Rating Wayne Inniss was court-martialled yesterday morning and dismissed from the force after pleading guilty to the charges brought against him. The specifics of the charges were unclear, but sources said the man was immediately handed over to the police for civil prosecution. Inniss is facing at least three years imprisonment if found guilty of trafficking in narcotics.

Meanwhile, the other two ranks implicated - Ordinary Ratings Shandy Stephens and Errol Wilburg were tried by their unit, Coast Guard, last week and were recommended for SOS. However, up to yesterday afternoon, sources told this newspaper that only Stephens would be handed over to police.

The army told this newspaper last night that the “three able ratings from Coast Guard were reduced in ranks and dismissed from the GDF. Two were handed over to the police for alleged trafficking in marijuana. Wayne Inniss was tried by ordinary court martial [Tuesday] morning and was found guilty and dismissed with ignominy. He was subsequently handed over to the police. Shandy Stephens and Errol Wilburg were tried summarily, found guilty and reduced in rank and were dishonourably discharged. Stephens, like Inniss was handed over to the police.”

There was reportedly no evidence against Wilburg. Stabroek News understands that Inniss, upon learning of the vessel’s impending participation in Exercise Tradewinds, approached Wilburg and Stephens, offering them money to ship the narcotics to Barbados.

Reports state that Inniss was subsequently unable to contact Wilburg before the vessel sailed and information suggests that Wilburg might not have had knowledge that the four bags of prohibited drugs had been secreted on the ship.

However, army personnel are maintaining that the rank should have reported the proposition.

The scandal rocked the army and came one day after the GDFS Essequibo docked in a Barbados port to participate, for the second time, in the naval arm of Exercise Tradewinds.

The vessel set sail for Barbados on May 11 and arrived two days later. But one day after docking in the foreign port, Inniss, who was Absent Without Leave (AWOL) at the time, was intercepted by the ship’s security. The rank reportedly flew to Barbados after the vessel departed from Guyana and checked into a hotel to await the arrival of the ship.

After the GDFS Essequibo docked, Inniss reportedly breached port security and boarded the vessel, but was intercepted. When questioned, he told his colleagues that he had secreted the ganja aboard the vessel while it was docked in Guyana. He was detained and local authorities immediately pulled the ship from its participation in the exercise. After subsequent investigations, Wilburg and Stephens were also taken into military custody.

The army then launched a Board of Inquiry. A senior police source said yesterday that they finally got advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to charge the soldiers.