A Nigerian man, who admitted to being in possession of 2.1 kilogrammes of cocaine, was sentenced to five years imprisonment and fined $7.6 M by Magistrate Krishendat Persaud on Thursday at the Springlands Court.
The court heard that on April 13, Kingsley Mybeahiuruku, 38, was an outgoing passenger at the No. 78 Village, Corriverton backtrack route to Suriname, when he was found with the drugs.
The $7.6 M fine imposed is said to be three times the street value of the cocaine. Magistrate Persaud ordered that the man be deported after serving his sentence.
Police Prosecutor Sergeant Michael Grant told the court that officers of the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad had observed the defendant acting in a suspicious manner. The officers then asked him to empty his bag, in which the drugs were concealed.
Mybeahiuruku made his first appearance at the Springlands Court on April 14 and pleaded not guilty to the offence. He changed his plea when he reappeared on Thursday. He informed the magistrate that he was a taxi driver in Suriname and that a friend had asked him to drop the bag in Paramaribo. However he would not disclose the identity of the “friend.” Before the sentence was handed down he told the magistrate: “My Lord, I am begging for leniency.”
