$60M CJIA cocaine bust: Fmr media worker changes plea to not guilty

After spending one month on remand, former Communications Officer Zanneel Williams has changed her guilty plea to not guilty in the case concerning the discovery of over $60 million in cocaine in her luggage at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
Williams, 25, of Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown, was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday after her initial guilty plea to a drug trafficking charge last month. But when her case came up on Monday at the Diamond-Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts, she opted to change her plea. As a result, Magistrate Sunil Scarce remanded her to prison until June 27 for disclosure of statements.
The charge against her stated that on April 22, she had 9.628 kilograms (21 pounds) of cocaine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.

She was charged along with former Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Officer Anil Sookhoo, 33, of Kuru Kururu, Linden-Soesdyke Highway and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Officer Shameka Caesar, 27, of D’Urban Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown. Sookhoo and Caesar denied the charge at their first court appearance and were each released on $750,000 bail.

On the day in question, Williams was an outgoing passenger on a JetBlue flight destined for the JFK International Airport, New York, USA, when CANU officers found a quantity of cocaine concealed inside a laptop inside her hand luggage. As a result, she was arrested and taken to CANU’s headquarters, where more cocaine was found strapped to her body.

Based on investigations, Police later arrested Sookhoo and Caesar.
The cocaine found in her luggage amounted to 7.962kg while another 1.666kg of cocaine was found strapped to her body. The narcotic had a total street value of over $5 million and upon arrival in the US, it would have been worth US$300,000 ($60 million).

Williams was a former Communications Officer at the Department of Public Information (DPI).