Guyanese businessman gets reduced jail-time on drug trafficking charge

Forty-five-year-old Guyanese businessman Ghalee Khan, who appealed a nine-year jail term back in 2021 for drug trafficking and jumping bail, was on Monday resentenced to 18 months.
The sentence was handed down by Judge Frederic Block of the US Federal Court on September 26. Khan has already served 42 months from the nine-year sentence but will not challenge the court system for extra time he spent.
He is expected to return to Guyana, where he operates a security firm.
Khan was arrested back in 2020 after arriving at the John F Kennedy (JFK) International Airport, in New York, for drug-related charges.

It was reported that Khan had his lawyers strike a deal with US authorities over pending narcotics trafficking charges that he has in the United States before he boarded a plane destined for JFK Airport.
Reports are that as soon as the American Airlines flight landed, US law enforcement boarded the plane and requested that everyone remain seated. The officers then proceeded to Khan’s seat, immediately arrested him, then removed him from the plane.
It was after this that the passengers were allowed to disembark the plane, this newspaper was told.
Reports are that Khan, prior to his flight to the US, was part of the local Private Sector Commission (PSC) security committee.
In 2009, Khan had faced drug trafficking charges in Guyana. In 2008 he was arrested and charged in the state of Brooklyn for allegedly participating with another Guyanese in a “cocaine drop-off”. Reports are that the US court had released him on bail pending the trial but he reportedly escaped to Guyana. As such, an arrest warrant was issued for him in the United States.