PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Acting Chief Magistrate Chris Tine Charles has approved the extradition of an alleged drug trafficker who is wanted in the United States on suspicion of smuggling one million US dollars in cocaine and heroin into that country.
Magistrate Charles informed Guppy, who was arrested last September by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) with the assistance of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), of his right to apply for a writ of habeas corpus to challenge the legality of his detention. He has 16 days to do so.
Guppy, 47, is facing 11 charges of heroin and cocaine worth one million US dollars in Pennsylvania. He also faces local charges of possessing a firearm, ammunition, and cocaine. Guppy has also been denied bail on those charges.
The charges stemmed from items purportedly discovered at his rented home at Ascot Road, Goodwood Park, Westmoorings, west of here, and his vehicle on September 26, last year.
The acting Chief Magistrate said she was satisfied that local attorneys representing the United States had met the requirements set out under the Extradition (Commonwealth and Territories) Act to have Guppy extradited to face trial.
She did so one day after overruling a no-case submission made by Guppy’s attorneys, Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, and Randall Raphael, who opposed the United States’ application to extradite their client.
In dismissing the no-case submission, the magistrate said she had carefully examined the evidence presented during the proceedings and was satisfied that attorneys who represented the requesting State had made out a prima facie case against Guppy to have him extradited for the offenses as stated in the Authority to Proceed (ATP).
The US Embassy here said that at the time of his arrest, Guppy faced charges from the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In a statement, the embassy said the Trinidad and Tobago Transnational Organised Crime Unit (TOCU) received assistance from its DEA officers in the inquiry that resulted in Guppy’s detention.
National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds expressed gratitude to the DEA and the TOCU, saying, “US DEA agents in Philadelphia and the US Embassy started working on this case with us in 2020, culminating in this significant arrest and extradition order.
“I am gratified that our excellent cooperation has led to this arrest. We count on our American law enforcement partners to assist us in making Trinidad and Tobago safer for our communities,” he added.
US Ambassador Candace Bond said she is “proud of the painstaking work the US Embassy’s DEA agents do every single day to help end drug trafficking and to strengthen citizen security for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.”
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