Witnesses provide evidence in human trafficking case against Iranians |29 September 2022
The prosecution on Tuesday produced two more witnesses in the human trafficking case against the eleven Iranian nationals accused of human trafficking.
The first witness, an official of the Seychelles Coastguard, recounted to court the operation to retrieve the person of interest, Seychellois national Andy Bistoquet from the Indian Navy, after they had apparently rescued him from an Iranian dhow, where he was to be a drug guarantee.
As per his account, it was on November 21, 2021 that the PS Etoile vessel belonging to local law enforcement met with the Indian vessel around 480 nautical miles off the North East Coast of Mahé, where Mr Bistoquet was handed over to the Seychelles authorities.
Having been given the coordinates of the dhow, PS Etoile proceeded to the position and attempted to contact the occupants of the wooden dhow by radio, to no avail. Upon embarking on the vessel, it became clear that the Iranian national had to food, no water, no fuel, and the dhow’s engine had stopped functioning.
At that point, a decision was taken to tow the dhow back to Seychelles, some 493 nautical miles off the coast of Mahé.
The second witness produced before the Supreme Court was Dean Laurence, who was initially arrested onboard the Flying Fish vessel on November 1, 2021, as he and Gerard Bastienne were returning from handing Bistoquet over to the Iranian dhow in exchange for the gunny bags of drugs, all of which went on at sea.
Laurence, a skipper, noted how he was recruited by brothers Dario and Fabio Soopramanien for the ‘job’ and how they had initially attempted to set out for the exchange some time during October 2021, but had to abandon the plan since the dhow they were supposed to be meeting with was encountering mechanical difficulties. It was only then that he met Bistoquet, and Mr Bastienne who would be accompanying him on the journey.
A couple of days later, they were all once again contacted by the brothers giving the go-ahead for the exchange. He, along with Bistoquet and Bastienne set out armed with the exact position of the dhow, and he with an envelope containing $2000 which he was supposed to handover to the captain of the dhow.
According to his account, they left at around 5am on the morning of October 31, 2021, and took a few hours to reach the dhow, at around 6pm. Having communicated the code to confirm it was indeed them, the envelope was handed over, and Bastienne and himself proceeded to load the gunny bags of drugs onto their own vessel, the Flying Fish, before they helped Bistoquet to board the dhow.
However, on the way back, they ran out of fuel, and despite making a call through satellite phone to Dario for fuel, they waited the entire morning to no avail, and was instead intercepted by the Seychelles Coastguard.
Laurence was initially one of the suspects facing trial for his involvement in the series of events, but has since accepted a conditional offer by the Prosecution.
It must be noted that the Soopramanien brothers and Bastienne have already been sentenced for drug importation and human trafficking, and face 30 years behind bars.
The trial continues for the eleven Iranians, who have all pleaded not guilty to the human trafficking charges. They are being represented by Counsel Clifford Andre.
The trial is set to continue before Chief Justice Rony Govinden of the Supreme Court on October 12.
Laura Pillay