Thursday September 27, 2012
Kaieteur News
Page 3
Injunction stalls contract Women caught smuggling drugs in hair weaves for pirated text books Now that a High Court has prohibited the publication and distribution of “pirated” school textbooks, Government has halted a contract that was previously issued for the provision of such material. The publishing house awarded the contract to provide the books through the tender process was also served with an injunction. Earlier this month, five companies tendered bids worth millions of dollars for the procurement of the pirated books. These included Giftland Office Max, F&H Printing Establishment, Pavnic Press, Sheik Hassan Printery and Metro Office and Computer Centre; the contract winner which placed the lowest bid of $103,671,162. On Tuesday, Attorney-atlaw Andrew Pollard, on behalf of the British Publishers’ Association, filed an injunction in the High Court stopping all local publishing houses from printing and selling the pirated textbooks.
The orders were served on the respective publishing houses yesterday and they are expected to appear in court today. Pollard said that extensive complaints were made to former Education Minister Shaik Baksh who promised to take action against the illegal act. The Minister never fulfilled his promises, Pollard claimed. That forced the copyright company to move to the court this time around. Current Education Minister Priya Manickchand, confirmed yesterday that until the determination of the court order, the publication of the pirated books will be delayed. She explained that following the injunction, the particular stores have also ceased the provision of the said school books. Prior to the injunction being filed, President Donald Ramotar had said that the Government was rethinking its approach to acquiring the necessary school texts since Ministry officials met with
several British diplomats from the British High Commission to discuss the issue of the pirated books. He said he was unable to go into details on the matter, but it was being addressed. Ramotar’s comment on the matter had come after the London-based body that represents publishers worldwide, blasted Guyana’s decision to buy pirated textbooks. It described the move as illegal. The British Publishers’ Association is an umbrella body of United Kingdom publishers whose members include large publishing houses such as Nelson Thornes Ltd., Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Macmillan Ltd. and Pearson Education Ltd. They are the holders of copyright in an extensive number intellectual works. The foreign publishing houses called their move to the High Court an act to protect and safeguard their intellectual property rights.
GuyExpo 2012 opens today Prisons, Planet Fitness Pro and Texila American University Inc. amongst new exhibitors
A section of what the future city looks like at the Exhibition site The annual GuyExpoTrade Exhibition will open today. There will be numerous new and interesting exhibitors added to this year’s celebrations. Some of the new exhibitors participating in this year ’s trade fair include California Stucco Guyana Inc., Seeram Jewellery Mould Shop, Freightlink Express, Planet Fitness Pro, The Studio/Ram Specialist, Havins Customs Fabrication and transmission, Zoon, Texila American University Inc, Wireless City International, Faith& Sabo Indian Fashion, Planet Paint Ball, IICA, and Euphoria
Entertainment Parks. In excess of 400 exhibitors confirmed their participation. The Guyana Prison Service (GPS), Fitness Pro and the Texila American University Inc have come on board as have several other new exhibitors. The Guyana Prison Service (GPS) will be participating in GuyExpo for the first time. The buzz is going around about Giftland, since the
entity will be basically showcasing and promoting its new mall, which will boost visitors’ shopping experience in Guyana. It is reported that the mall will offer games, 3D movie (continued on page 9)
(The Smoking Gun) The suspiciously towering hairdos of two women who had just flown into New York City from Guyana prompted federal agents to conduct searches that revealed each traveler was carrying more than two pounds of cocaine sewn into her weave, according to court records. After arriving early Sunday morning at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Caribbean Airlines Flight 526 from Guyana, the women appeared fidgety and extremely nervous during routine questioning by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents. In a U.S. District Court affidavit, a federal agent noted that Kiana Howell “appeared as if she was going to faint” and “her carotid artery was pumping.” During a pat-down, an investigator felt “an unusual bulge beneath the defendant’s hair weave.” When asked about the bulge, Howell claimed that it was “part of her hair weave.” When asked to remove the weave, Howell said that she could not “because she had a package that was sewn into it.” Howell stated that her boyfriend in Guyana “told her to bring that package under her hair weave to the United States for him.” While claiming that she did not know the package’s contents, Howell admitted, “It was not a good thing.” Howell’s weave was subsequently dismantled at a medical facility at JFK, where agents removed a rounded package wrapped with clear plastic. Inside was nearly a kilo of cocaine – 996 grams. After Howell’s arrest, she told investigators she had been promised US$7500 to “smuggle the package under her hair weave.” The second traveler, Makeeba Graham, “had an unusually high and bulky hair style,” according to an affidavit sworn by Department of Homeland Security Agent Jeffrey Fidler. After a CBP agent “felt a hard
Makeeba Graham Kiana Howell object on the defendant’s head,” Graham, a 33-year-old Harlem resident, was “asked to remove her hair weave.” After Graham claimed that she could not remove the weave because it “was sewn to her natural hair,” she was transported to the same medical facility at JFK, where the weave was partially dismantled. Inside, agents discovered a rounded package containing more than a kilo of cocaine – 1,046 grams. Howell and Graham were named Monday in separate
felony criminal complaints charging them with narcotics smuggling. Graham was freed on US$100,000 bond, while Howell remains in custody in advance of a detention hearing scheduled for this afternoon. And in Guyana the police arrested Michelle Thomas, called Lovely, yesterday afternoon, in connection with the same drug bust. Her relatives claimed that one of the women arrested may have had Thomas’s passport which they believed was stolen by another relative.
Queenstown is 171 years old Queenstown, one the oldest Villages on the Essequibo Coast, celebrated its 171st anniversary on Tuesday with a series of activities to commemorate the occasion. The Village was bought by ex-slaves in 1841 after other freed slaves would have purchased three plantations, namely, Mocha, Dagaraad and West Field. Chairman of the Queenstown Development Association, Wendell Walcott, gave a brief history of the Village. He said that slaves, on East Coast Demerara, who bought both Queenstown and Victoria, sought to name Queenstown, Victoria, initially, after the then Queen of England but they decided against the
name, since Queenstown was the first individual Village and Victoria was the first Cooperative Village. Renowned former counselor, Isahack Basir, who was among invitees told the attendants that Queenstown and Danielstown, were the first two villages that set the foundation of the establishment of the Essequibo Coast. Basir, who said that Queenstown is geared for development, has also taken the opportunity to encourage the younger residents to preserve their village. The PPP stalwart encouraged students to be an added value, while reminding that Queenstown once supplied food for communities along the Coast.