Barbados: According to Barbados Today, Ryon Marlon George has been sentenced to seven years in prison by chief magistrate Pamela Beckles after pleading guilty to seven drug charges involving 19.6kg of cocaine in the Oistins Magistrates' Court. The contraband, worth almost US$1m, was found on the MV Fairland cargo ship.

George admitted importing, intent to supply, possession and trafficking cocaine on 22 January 2015 at the Arawak cement plant. Station sergeant Rudolph Burnett outlined how the ship arrived in the Bridgetown Port on 15 January 2015, before making its way to the Arawak cement plant to collect a consignment of cement. The ship, on which George worked as an oiler, was Guyana-bound. Acting on a tip-off, police carried out an operation at the Arawak cement plant on 22 January 2015. Police boarded, searched and found a haversack with seven packages of cocaine hidden inside a garbage bin.

George admitted travelling from Guyana to Barbados with two bags on cocaine hidden on the ship, which he intended to hand over to unknown men. He also told police he had put one of the bags on the pier in a bin and later directed the lawmen to a hole in the ship where he had another bag hidden. That bag contained 10 packages of cocaine.