The seven men before a Caerphilly Magistrate’s court charged with importing cocaine into the United Kingdom that was discovered in a shipment of timber from Guyana, are due to appear again on September 1. They are Lebert Barrows, a Jamaican businessman, Gerald Davies, Anthony Chambers, Michael Silcox, Milton Wilson, Joseph Salmon, and Mohamed Afzal Shaheen.

The timber shipment originated in Guyana although the exporter has yet to be identified.

A UK Customs official has told Stabroek News that at the hearing a decision will be taken as to the date of the commencement of the committal hearing and that the hearing is likely to commence in the week beginning September 22.

When they appeared in court on Monday, their lawyers raised concerns about the length of time they had been in custody, and at an appeal hearing yesterday at the Cardiff Crown Court on application by the police, the limit for their detention was extended to September 30.

Stabroek News understands that the prosecution has tendered a 1500-page document, a CD ROM and a videotape of the events leading up to the arrest of the seven men on June 7.

They were arrested when a team of HM Customs official, members of the National Crime Squad and the Gwent Police tracked the consignment of timber in which the cocaine was secreted from Felixstowe to an industrial estate in Newport, South Wales.