FOUR men appeared before the Nadi Magistrates Court yesterday for allegedly trying to transport close to 40kg of cocaine valued at $35 million. Appearing before Magistrate Nilmini Fernandez were Marc Winston Tjin Konnkoen, 51, Shaneil Suresh Autar, 35, Rosheel Kumar, 24, and Pravishek Kartik Narayan, 21.

Mr Konnkoen and Mr Autar were both charged with one count of unlawful possession and supply of illicit drugs and a second count of unlawful exportation of illicit drugs. Mr Kumar and Mr Narayan both face one count of unlawful possession and supply of illicit drugs.

The court was told the four were allegedly found to have dealt for the transfer, transport and supply of 39.6kg of cocaine in Lautoka on October 7, 2019.

Mr Konnkoen and Mr Autar were also alleged to have facilitated the export of 34 parcels of cocaine to Australia on October 8.

Mr Autar, a Lautoka businessman, had allegedly contacted two university students on October 7 to meet him at Marine Drive in Lautoka to pick up a parcel and deliver it to Denarau Island.

The trio later met Mr Konnkoen at the Lautoka Sugar City Mall car park where two suitcases and a box were allegedly transferred into a rental car listed to Mr Autar.

The transaction was allegedly caught on CCTV cameras.

All four accused were refused bail despite pleas from defence lawyers for the accused.

Appearing for Mr Konnkoen was Munsami Naidu, for Mr Autar was Jasveer Singh and Sabrina Khan for Mr Kumar and Mr Narayan.

The case has been transferred to the High Court in Lautoka and the matter adjourned to November 13.