By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE ST. James police have finally managed to secure a translator for the three Czech citizens who were held trying to smuggle approximately 7lbs of cocaine out of the island late last month.
Basil Fletcher who works with the Jamaica Social Investment Fund appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday to assist the men who had indicated they did not understand English or any other language well enough to answer the charges.
Fletcher told the court that the attorney representing the men, Marcus Greenwood of Mandeville had asked for another date, two weeks hence, so he can get further instructions.
The trial of the three men Ferenc Ladislav, Martin Styndl and Libor Svobada had stalled despite extensive efforts to find Czech speakers. Attempts to find out if the men spoke any other popular language such as German or French also proved futile.
The men were about to board a Martin Air flight to Amsterdam about 9:00 p.m. on January 25 at the Sangster International Airport and were observed behaving suspiciously, according to the police. They were interviewed and then taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where they were x-rayed and foreign objects seen in their stomachs.
They were admitted to the hospital and later passed out the drugs wrapped in plastic. Styndl had 99 packages, Svobada had 95 and Ladislav had 74.
