Joshua Rahman's $31 million drug trial

The case where an application has been made for Joshua Aziz Rahman to be extradited has been adjourned to the 30th of this month.

Rahman who is a Canadian national has been found guilty of possession of illicit drugs by High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar.

The 26-year-old was found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine worth $31 million in Caubati in February 2019.

Police found 39 bars of cocaine at the house Rahman and his father were renting.

The sentencing hearing will be held next Thursday.

Canadian national, Joshua Aziz Rahman has been found guilty of possession of illicit drugs by High Court Judge Justice Daniel Goundar.

The 26-year-old was found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine worth $31 million in Caubati in February 2019.

Police found 39 bars of cocaine at the house Rahman and his father were renting.

In his judgement, Justice Goundar said his decision is based on the evidence presented in the trial.

The judge said Rahman does not dispute that he stayed at the house in Caubati when he made trips to Fiji.

Justice Goundar said Rahman had free access to the property.

The judge went on to say that when the drugs were found, Rahman was the only person who had access to the house.

Justice Goundar adds Rahman was the legal occupant of the house.

The sentencing hearing will be held next Thursday.

Rahman's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma told the court today that New Zealand Immigration is trying to extradite Rahman to New Zealand.

This case will be called in the Suva Magistrates Court at 2pm.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has filed a motion and an affidavit to seek orders for Canadian national, Joshua Aziz Rahman to be extradited to New Zealand and tried for criminal charges.

The matter was called before Chief Magistrate Usaia Ratuvili this morning however Rahman was not produced in court.

Chief Magistrate Ratuvili said that the alleged offences in New Zealand was an extraditable offence and endorsed the application.

The court noted that Rahman may not have been served with the notice and directed the state to serve Rahman who is in remand.

The defence lawyer told the court that they were served with the notice and had received no instructions on the matter from Rahman.

The case will be called on the 16th of this month.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine worth $31 million in Caubati in February 2019.

The judgement on this case will also be delivered on the 16th of April.

The Suva High Court will deliver its judgement in Joshua Aziz Rahman's $31 million drug trial on the 12th of April.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine in Caubati in February 2019.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Andrew Jack and Rahman's lawyer Devanesh Sharma delivered their closing submissions in court today.

Dr. Andrew Jack said that Rahman did not deny the police referring to the Caubati house as Rahman's home and he did not say anything in that regard.

He said that it is clear from the evidence that Rahman and his father were in control of the house.

Dr. Jack said that Rahman was released before he was re-arrested for the drugs and it is untrue that Rahman was not released from police custody on the 15th of February.

He said that Rahman must be punished for his crime.

Meanwhile, Rahman's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma submitted that no drugs were found in Rahman's room and Rahman had no knowledge of the drugs in the master bedroom.

He said that no direct evidence were produced in court that proves that Rahman had knowledge of the drugs in the room.

Sharma said that a police investigator had also told the court that no fingerprints were taken during the raid on the property.

He also said that there was no evidence of an enterprise between Rahman and his father and this evidence could have been obtained by checking Rahman's phone.

He said that Rahman was not even in the house when the raid was conducted.

Sharma said that no investigation was done to determine where the drugs came from and the police let a sitting golden duck go by not finding this out or by asking the 2 men who were also charged with drug smuggling in Australia.

He also said that Rahman was kept in custody for more than 48 hours and the station diary was not produced in court as evidence.

Sharma said Rahman must be acquitted.

Drug accused, Joshua Aziz Rahman has maintained in the Suva High Court that he had no knowledge that there were drugs in the house in Caubati.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5kg cocaine in Caubati in February 2019.

While giving evidence today, Rahman also says that he was not in charge of the property as it was rented by his father and he did not have access to the master bedroom where the drugs were discovered.

Rahman also claimed in court today that between 2019 and 2020 he was kept in solitary confinement at the Naboro Maximum Prison for 126 days.

He says there were no court orders for him to be taken to solitary confinement.

Rahman told the Suva High Court today that no drugs were found in his room.

He further told the court that at no point in time he was released from custody and re-arrested by the CID Officers.

Rahman claimed in court that the evidence by Usaia Donu where Donu had told the court that he re-arrested Rahman, is a lie.

During cross-examination Assistant DPP Dr. Andrew Jack put to Rahman that Rahman had met some foreign nationals to facilitate the sale of the cocaine which Rahman denied.

Dr. Jack then put to Rahman that Rahman together with his father were in control of the house. Rahman denied this as well.

Closing submissions will be done at 11.30am tomorrow.

Joshua Aziz Rahman who was allegedly found with 39.5kg of cocaine has told the Suva High Court today that no drugs were found in his room.

The Canadian national is currently giving evidence before High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Goundar.

Rahman also says that he was never asked to take a drug test.

He further told the court that at no point in time he was released from custody and re-arrested by the CID Officers.

Rahman claimed in court that the evidence by Usaia Donu where Donu had told the court that he re-arrested Rahman, is a lie.

He is currently being cross-examined by the state lawyer.

Stay with us for more. 

Detective Damien Espinosa who is a Senior Sergeant with the New Zealand Police has told the Suva High Court today that according to CCTV footage, Joshua and his father Talat Rahman were seen walking with a bag containing cash on 9th December 2018.

This is in relation to Rahman's $31 million drug trial where he was allegedly found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine in Caubati on the 14th of February 2019.

Sergeant Espinosa said they believe the cash was from the sale of methamphetamine and the bag was eventually handed over to an individual known as Hui Wang.

He says this was the first consignment of methamphetamine which was imported from the US while the second consignment was intercepted by New Zealand's customs department.

Espinosa says Wang and another individual known as Timu who Talat had met earlier, later pleaded guilty to importing methamphetamine.

He also informed the court that the phone Talat was using prior to his arrest was later being used by his son Joshua Rahman.

When asked by Rahman's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma if there is any evidence of Joshua Rahman using the phone, Espinosa said they did not locate the phone with Rahman but according to their investigations he was using it.

Espinosa is the last state witness.

Joshua Rahman will give evidence in court tomorrow.

An investigating officer in the $31 million drug trial of Joshua Aziz Rahman has told the court that a security guard had informed them that he had a vision of some salt-like substance inside Rahman’s home in Caubati.

Detective Corporal Viliame Nagatalevu said that the security guard had this vision when he was praying and a search was then conducted while Rahman was already in custody.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine in Caubati on the 14th of February 2019.

Nagatalevu has also told court that no drugs were found in Rahman's room of his Caubati house.

He has told the court during his cross-examination that all the drugs were found in Rahman's father, Talat Rahman’s master bedroom.

He also said that none of Rahman's items that were found in his room such as clothes or bags were tested for drugs and he is not aware of the fact that the K9 Unit had sniffed Rahman and as the investigating officer he would have known if he was sniffed.

When asked by Rahman's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma if Rahman had a direct hand in his father's business, Nagatalevu had said that Rahman was found with his father's bank cards.

He also said that Rahman was in police custody from the 11th to the 16th of February and had no access to the house.

Nagatalevu said he is aware that apart from the keys with Rahman, another set of keys were with the caretaker of the property.

He also said that he cannot confirm that there was email or message conversations between Rahman and his father about drugs.

The detective also told the court that they had received a request from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions last week to extract contact details of a ‘Karate’ and ‘White’ from Rahman’s phone.

Sharma told the court that the defence were served a further disclosure of Friday.

Upon questioning, Nagatalevu had told the court that he is aware that disclosures must be served 21 days before the beginning of the trial.

The trial will continue before High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Goundar tomorrow.

The Investigating Officer in the drug trial of Joshua Aziz Rahman has told the court that they found a parcel wrapped in duct tape in the drawer while a stack of parcels were also found under the bed of the master bedroom of Rahman's home in Caubati during their raid.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5 kg of cocaine in Caubati in 2019.

Detective Corporal Avinesh Dutt told the court that he had moved the mattress from the bed to climb on top of it and turn off the air conditioning unit.

He said when he climbed on top of it, his foot went in and with the assistance of another officer, the mattress was removed where they found a board was covering half the bed.

Dutt said that upon removing the board, he saw a black plastic bag laid out under the bed with a stack of parcels on the side.

The detective said that there were parcels marked all over the plastic and there was a little bit of powder around each mark.

The detective said that Rahman was called into the room and asked about it. He said Rahman had responded that he did not know anything about it.

He said that a dog unit was also present during the raid.

Dutt said the dog had shown interest around a play station unit in the TV room and the drawer where a parcel was found in the master bedroom.

He told the court that Rahman's room was also searched where a yellow note book and a few pages from that notebook was found on the table beside his bed.

The notepad and 3 pages were rendered in court as evidence however, Rahman's lawyer, Devanesh Sharma objected to this on the grounds that they were unaware of this and it was not in the list of evidence that was collected from Rahman’s house.

Justice Daniel Goundar had overruled the objection.

The trial continues in the Suva High Court tomorrow.

The lawyer of drug accused Joshua Aziz Rahman has alleged in court today that Rahman was never released from custody and was kept in for more than 48 hours while two prosecution witnesses maintain that Rahman was released and then re-arrested.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5 kg of cocaine in Caubati in 2019.

Rahman’s lawyer Devanesh Sharma put to prosecution witness ASP Rupeni Taoka that Rahman was never released however Taoka says that he was the one who released Rahman from custody.

Sharma also put to Taoka that Rahman was continuously detained since his arrest in Nadi and this is a cover up to which Taoka replied that this was not the case.

Another prosecution witness, Usaia Donu told the court this morning that he was the one who re-arrested Rahman after he was released from custody at the CID.

Donu said that Rahman was arrested outside the CID.

Rahman’s lawyer then put to Donu that Rahman was never allowed to leave and this is all just a mock up to which Donu said he was acting on instructions to re-arrest Rahman.

The trial will continue before Justice Daniel Goundar this afternoon.

The Principal Scientific Officer of the Chemistry Laboratory of the Fiji Police Force has revealed in the drug trial of Canadian national Joshua Aziz Rahman that she was not asked by the Investigating Officer to check for the purity of cocaine.

Rahman was allegedly found in possession of 39.5 kg of cocaine in Caubati in 2019.

While answering a question by High Court Judge, Justice Daniel Goundar, Miliana Were-bau-inona said that she is not aware what was the percentage of purity of cocaine as she did not test for it.

She further said that the Investigating Officer has to request for the purity test and in this case, she was not asked to do it.

Werebauinona also identified the bars of cocaine that she analyzed in 2019.

She further revealed that NZ Police had also requested samples from the bars of cocaine and the Police Commissioner had given the approval for the sealed packages to be opened again.

The trial continues before Justice Goundar.

The trial of a Canadian man who was allegedly found with $31 million worth of cocaine in 2019 will begin in the Suva High Court today.

Joshua Aziz Rahman was found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine in Caubati on the 14th of February in 2019.

Rahman has been in remand since 2019.

He will be represented by Devanesh Sharma.

High Court Judge Justice, Daniel Goundar has dismissed the second bail application of Canadian national Joshua Aziz Rahman.

24-year-old Rahman was allegedly found with $31 million worth of cocaine will sit for trial beginning on the 22nd of next month.

It is alleged that Rahman was found in possession of 39.5kg of cocaine in Caubati on the 14th of February in 2019.

His first bail application was refused on 28th March 2019.

While delivering his ruling, Justice Goundar says the accused took 6 months to settle on his current lawyer of his choice for trial which was one reason for the delay in the case.

He says the second reason for delay is the COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.

The case has been adjourned to the 1st of next month.