– jailed and fined
“It was a mistake and it won’t happen again,” 20-year-old Kendrea Smith said yesterday before being sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $10,000 for trafficking in narcotics after being nabbed with cocaine at the airport last Friday.
Smith of 1593 Codette Lane, South Ruimveldt, who is a mother of one, admitted that on September 10 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport she had in her possession 5.836 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking when the charge was read to her by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Beharry-Sewnarine.
The young woman stood in the docks of the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court looking very concerned after being told by the magistrate that the offence carries a minimum sentence of three years imprisonment and a maximum of five years.
Asked by the magistrate if she wanted to change her plea, the defendant repeated that she was guilty.
Special Prosecutor of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Oswald Massiah in giving the facts of the case said that on the day in question, the young mother of one who was an outgoing passenger bound for the United States was checking-in her luggage when a CANU officer observed her acting in a suspicious manner.
While the woman’s suitcases were being scanned the items were detected. The defendant’s luggage was later checked in her presence and she was told of the offence committed and admitted to it.
According to Massiah, the woman who is a US resident had arrived in the country on August 14 for vacation with her family and was nabbed on her way out.
The unrepresented Smith was later handed the four-year prison sentence and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000.
According to initial reports reaching Stabroek News, CANU ranks on Friday morning busted the woman who had the cocaine concealed in false compartments of three suitcases at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
Stabroek News understands that the woman, who was scheduled to travel on a Caribbean Airlines flight, was allowed three suitcases because she was travelling with a child.
