A Guyanese man, who authorities say admitted to smuggling cocaine into the United States by swallowing 39 pellets filled with the drug, has been remanded to prison in New York.
According to court documents seen by Stabroek News, Jermaine Smartt was found at the JFK Inn, located in New York, on April 6th, with 37 of the pellets already excreted.
The documents said that agents went to Smartt’s room as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation. It was searched as was a locked suitcase, with his consent.
In the suitcase, US agents found 37 pellets, which subsequently field-tested positive for cocaine. Smartt was then arrested and transported to the JFK medical facility to determine whether he had any foreign bodies in his intestinal tract.
He subsequently admitted that he believed that there were two additional pellets he had not yet passed. He also is said to have admitted that he travelled to the US from Guyana on April 5th and had swallowed the pellets discovered inside the suitcase. He said he had been paid US$3,500.
He was detained at the facility until he passed out the pellets.
Smartt has since appeared before Magis-trate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak and was remanded to prison.
