A US citizen who had packed cocaine into the soles of his shoes and was attempting to take it out of Guyana was yesterday ordered to pay a fine and to serve a four-year prison sentence.

Joseph Michael Moore, 24, an engineer, pleaded guilty to the charge of trafficking in narcotics when it was read to him by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Moore was ordered to pay a fine of $715,500 along with four years imprisonment.

On July 19 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Moore had in his possession 795 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

According to the Police Prosecutor, Moore was an outgoing passenger travelling to the United States on a Delta Airlines flight when he was searched and the illegal substance unearthed.

The prosecutor told the court that the cocaine was found concealed in the soles of the shoes the defendant was wearing as well as in a pair of sandals that were found in his luggage.