Phone records build drug conspiracy case
(CNS): Three men appeared in Grand Court Thursday charged with conspiring to supply ganja and cocaine based solely on phone records police seized following the arrest of drug dealer Alex Ebanks (26) at Lakeside apartments in October 2015. Ian Duncan, Carlos Myles and Ukel Dixon, who have all denied the charges, were exposed along with dozens of Ebanks’ other customers during that drug inquiry. They were arrested and charged because, the crown claims, telephone messages from July to October 2015 between them and Ebanks indicated that they were also supplying drugs bought from him to others.
None of the men were found in possession of drugs but they were identified through Ebanks’ phone records. Patrick Moran, the deputy director of public prosecutions, told the jury that the nature of the messages showed that Duncan was a regular customer of Ebanks, buying drugs to sell at the weekends; Myles was a less frequent customer but sought to buy large quantities and Dixon acted as a runner, delivering the drugs and collecting cash.
Ebanks was convicted last year and jailed for six and a half years after he pleaded guilty to a catalog of drug related offices. Police recovered over 100 grams of cocaine during a raid at his apartment in Lakeside, George Town, as well as several ounces of ganja and a collection of drug paraphernalia. When officers seized his phone and had it analysed, the extent of the dealing as well as Ebanks’ customers were also revealed.
As he opened the case Thursday, Moran told the jury that very few of the many messages called the drugs by name, which he said would have been “pretty foolish”, but they used terms that obviously related to drugs and their supply, such as the weights, prices, terms such as “hard” and “soft” and other descriptions such as an “eight ball” that the prosecutor said were clear references to drugs.
He said that the crown would also call an expert DEA officer from the US during the trial to interpret the terminology used by the men in the messages and underscore that the communication is consistent with the illegal drug trade.
Moran also drew the jury’s attention to the law in the Cayman Islands on conspiracy relating to drug offences, noting that it is a criminal offence to share or give away drugs to others, or conspire to sell them for profit.
The case presided over by Justice Charles Quin continues in Court One.
