A Guyanese man, who was last week caught attempting to smuggle cocaine into the US disguised in baking soda, has been remanded to prison.
According to court documents seen by this newspaper, Jacob Phillips arrived at the John F Kennedy Airport on June 24 aboard a Delta flight and was selected for a customs examination after a computer matched his name and date of birth to an open warrant from Harris County, Texas for a theft offence.
According to Special Agent Gerard McMahon of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Phillips was escorted to a baggage carousel to retrieve his luggage. Two pieces of luggage were retrieved, including a blue Newest brand suitcase. When Phillips was asked if both items of luggage and their contents belonged to him he responded “yes.”
“Upon search of the blue, Newest brand suitcase, a [customs officer] recovered 11 plastic bags labelled Lion Brand baking soda. A probe of one of the bags revealed a white powdery substance, which field-tested positive for the presence of cocaine,” Agent McMahon said in his affidavit.
Phillips was arrested and charged and he later appeared before Judge Ramon E Reyes Jr and was remanded to prison.
Meanwhile, appearing before the same judge last week were two Trinidadians who were both slapped with charges of attempting to import drugs into the US.
Kerry Celestine arrived on a Caribbean Airlines flight from Trinidad on June 23 and after inspection by customs officers it was found that someone had tampered with the pull-out handle of one of his suitcases. A probe of the pull out handle revealed a white powdery substance which field tested for cocaine. This second suitcase also contained cocaine in the pull-out handle.
Arriving on the same flight was Tracey Judd who was found to have cocaine in a package in his groin area.
While Judd was remanded to prison, Celestine was granted US$350,000 bail.