A sixty-six-year-old man was arrested by ranks of the Custom Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) after he was discovered with almost 300 grams of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
The cocaine found in the pensioner’s shoes
The suspect was found with the illicit drugs hidden in his shoes. The pensioner, who was US-bound, was taken into custody and is assisting with investigations. He is expected to be arraigned today.
Earlier this year, a 24-year-old waitress was jailed for 4 years and fined $13.1 million after she was found with over four kilograms of cocaine stashed in storybooks and other items at CJIA.
Rena Jagernauth, a Panama-bound passenger, was arrested after a search of her suitcase unearthed the substance.
The cocaine was found stashed inside four children’s storybooks, deodorant and perfume bottles, a makeup kit and other personal items that were inside her suitcase.
A little later in the year, four men were arrested by CANU ranks after they attempted to smuggle cocaine in fire extinguishers destined for an international location.
The law enforcement agency had said that its agents raided a house at 26 Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD) and intercepted the cocaine.
In September 2018, Shellon Yolanda Barrow of lot 135 Victoria Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, was arrested at CJIA after she was attempting to board a Jamaica-bound flight with the over 1 kilogram of cocaine concealed in a false wall of her hard cover carry-on suitcase.
That arrest came days after a Guyanese woman, Alica Coppin, had revealed to Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) at the JFK International Airport in New York that she had inserted a quantity of the narcotics into her vaginal cavity and swallowed another amount.
Just before that arrest, another New York-bound Guyanese, hairdresser Karen Stuffle, was busted by CANU ranks at the CJIA with 100 cocaine pellets, totalling 1.42 kilograms, stashed in her vagina and stomach.
She was subsequently sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $2.3M for the crime.
In July of 2018, 19-year-old Anesha Hardy of South Ruimveldt was jailed for 3 years and also handed a hefty fine after she was arrested by CANU ranks at CJIA after having admitted to swallowing some 119 cocaine pellets.
Hardy, who was an outgoing passenger destined to JFK Airport, was stopped by a CANU rank who had received information of her motives.
She was escorted to the hospital where an x-ray showed the pellets in her stomach.
On July 5, 2018, 37-year-old Natasha Blair was also jailed for three years after she attempted to smuggle a quantity of cocaine through CJIA to the US.
Blair, who was travelling with an 11-month old baby, was scheduled to board Caribbean Airlines flight BW726 destined for John F Kennedy International Airport.
It was reported that when Blair checked in her luggage at Caribbean Airline counter, a CANU rank acting on information, approached her and informed her of his suspicion that she had ingested and inserted narcotics.
Blair was cautioned and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where an x-ray was conducted. It revealed foreign objects in her stomach and pelvic area.
It was disclosed that the pellets found in the woman stomach weighed 322 grams, while the object in her pelvic area weighed 210 grams.
