– had paid courier US$5,000
A Guyanese man is now serving three years in a New York prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the US.
Vishnu Budhan-Persaud also called ‘Krishna’ had faced a four-count indictment before Justice Raymond J Dearie, but he pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced to 36 months in prison and three years supervision on his release. However, because he is not a US citizen he would be deported to Guyana on his release. He was sentenced last year.
Gerald Handley, special agent with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in court documents seen by this newspaper that during 2006 an individual, who later became a state witness, arrived at the JFK airport aboard a North American Airlines flight from Guyana.
Checks by customs officers revealed that the witness was attempting to smuggle some 1,378.3 grammes of cocaine in the handrails of a suitcase.
The individual was told of the offence and when questioned revealed that someone by the name of ‘Krishna’ was the owner of the drugs.
The state witness was paid US$5,000 to make the trip and had made previous trips for ‘Krishna’. It was also revealed that after the successful previous trip where the witness entered the US with the drugs, ‘Krishna’ entered the US one week later and with another individual distributed the drugs to an individual known as ‘Shortman.’ An individual named ‘Dutches’ had also received drugs from prior smuggling trips involving ‘Krishna.’
After being arrested the witness made consensually monitored telephone calls to ‘Krishna’ at the direction of ICE agents. During those calls ‘Krishna’ asked the witness if “everything was good” and whether they were “clear.”
He then informed the individual that he had spoken to ‘Shortman’ and that ‘Shortman’ was out of the state and would call ‘Krishna’ when he returned. He then gave the witness ‘Shortman’s’ number; ‘Dutches’ was also mentioned during the calls.
During the calls the two discussed ‘Krishna’ travelling to the US to deal with ‘Shortman’ along with the witness as had been their previous practice.
The documents said that on information from the witness that ‘Krishna’s’ first name was Vishnu and that he had followed the witness to the US approximately one week later, customs officials searched the records and discovered that Vishnu Budhan-Persaud also known as ‘Krishna’ had travelled from Guyana to the JFK Airport during the period in question.
The witness was shown a photograph of Vishnu and he identified him as the person who gave him the drugs to smuggle. This was on February 4, 2006, after the convict had travelled to the US on BWIA flight 424 and was arrested by ICE agents.
After his arrest the man attempted on two occasions to hand his ticket envelope to the person who was picking him up from the airport but he was prevented from doing so by the agents.
When the envelope was examined by the agents it was found that the numbers from which the witness had called him from along with ‘Shortman’s’ number were written on it.
The man was then placed before the courts but before the matter went to trial he decided to plead guilty.
