A Guyanese couple’s effort to smuggle hundreds of cocaine pellets into the United States was thwarted, as they were both busted by US Customs and Border officers and are now facing arraignment in the New York Eastern District Court.
The couple, Kurt and Maria Bruney, arrived in New York from Georgetown on September 23. Reports indicate that while the husband was subjected to initial routine security checks, he began to behave in a suspicious manner.
It is reported that after coming down with a bout of profuse sweating and shaking limbs, he was approached by officers to do an X-Ray. It is reportedly then that his partner in crime spilled the beans that they had ingested cocaine pellets.
It is alleged that they both cumulatively had well over 200 cocaine pellets in their systems, with the contents of an excreted pellet testing positive for cocaine. Reports indicate that a sum of US$6000 was promised for his efforts.
It is understood that the couple’s case is in the docket of the New York Eastern
Kurt and Maria Bruney
District Court, where a pre-arraignment complaint has been filed against them by the state since September 24.
And while they entered into their enterprise together, officials are now keeping them in separate federal holding facilities as they await trial. The couple, who reportedly hail from the East Coast of Demerara, follow in the footsteps of several locals who were busted in the US attempting to smuggle drugs.
Only last month, a search conducted on Guyanese hairdresser Karen Stuffle by CANU ranks at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) resulted in 100 cocaine pellets, totalling 1.42 kilograms, stashed in her vagina and stomach, being unearthed. After admitting to the offence, the 48-year-old Stuffle told the court she had been paid some US$400 to traffic the narcotics, and her airfare had also been paid in full.
Days later, Guyanese Alicia Coppin was busted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) with a quantity of cocaine being stashed in her vaginal cavity, and several cocaine pellets being in her stomach.
She was later taken to a medical facility, where she excreted the drugs, the amount of which has not been disclosed.
