A man, who travelled from Guyana to the US last Monday and was found with 8.206 kg of cocaine hidden in four bottles of rum at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York, has been granted US$75,000 bail.
Wilton Sinclair was charged with possession of cocaine on November 18 before Magistrate Judge James Orenstein in the US Eastern District Court.
According to court documents, Sinclair was a passenger on Caribbean Airlines Flight 525 which departed Georgetown and travelled to Trinidad and Tobago. He then boarded another Caribbean Airline Flight 524 and flew to the United States.
But on arrival at JFK Airport, he was selected for passenger screening by the US Customs and Border Protection officers. Sinclair was carrying a shopping bag, which contained four 1.75 litre bottles of rum, which when inspected were found to contain a thick, syrup-like substance inconsistent with rum.
Further inspections revealed the presence of cocaine and Sinclair was arrested.
He was interviewed by an agent and advised of his Miranda rights. However, Sinclair waived his rights and told law enforcement agents, in the absence of an attorney, that he was paid US$6,000 to take the four bottles containing cocaine from Guyana to the United States.
The court documents said a preliminary hearing was waived and bail was set with surety sworn after Sinclair was advised of his bond obligations and conditions, which he signed to.
