A Guyanese man was sentenced to 74 months in federal prison yesterday for illegally reentering the United States.

According to the South Jersey News Online, US District Judge Noel L. Hillman also ordered Arthur N. Higgins, 51, who previously resided in Queens, NY, to cooperate with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in deportation proceedings.

ICE Special Agents arrested the man on May 15 this year, after he was found to be a stowaway on board a cargo ship in Camden.

The news service said that Higgins had been previously deported on two occasions. He was convicted in May 1990 on cocaine distribution charges in Queens and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was deported in January 1994.

The report said Higgins was again deported in April 2004 after he served a 70-month federal prison term for illegally re-entering the US in June 1999.