– sentencing deferred
The Guyanese man, who was charged in September this year with trafficking in narcotics in New York after excreting 44 pellets of cocaine, has pleaded guilty to the charge.

Marvin Martins, who was held on September 13 after he arrived at the JFK Airport on a Delta Airlines flight, pleaded guilty before Judge Leo Glaassar earlier this month.

A date is to be set for his sentencing but he remains on the US$200,000 bail and continue to wear an electronic bracelet to monitor his movements.

According to Special Agent with the Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) Xiao Ren in an affidavit seen by this newspaper, Martins arrived at the airport around 2.30 pm on September 13 and was pulled in for questioning by customs officers because of his nervous behaviour.

It was observed that Martins travelled on a ticket that was purchased with cash just four days earlier and when questioned about who purchased the ticket he told the officer that his brother had purchased it for US$1,000.

However, when asked for a number to verify his story Martins was unable to do so. He also told the officer that he lived with his grandparents in the US but they were unaware that he was returning home.

Special Agent Ren said it was then observed that Martins had made four trips in the last year and when this observation was made he admitted that he had ingested narcotics.

He was taken to JFK’s Medical Facility and about 5 pm that day he passed out five pellets of cocaine. He eventually passed out a total of 44 pellets.

The amount of cocaine contained in the pellets mounted to 612.1 grammes and Martins was then charged.