An American man was sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $5.4 million yesterday by Magistrate Hazel Octive Hamilton after he pleaded guilty to trafficking in narcotics.
Lewis Malik Duffie admitted to having in his possession six kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport on June 12.
Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that Duffie is an American by birth and came to Guyana on June 3, reportedly on holiday. On June 12 at 1:55 pm as Duffie was going through the internal scanner at the airport, a CANU officer noticed that he was acting in a suspicious manner.
Massiah said further that as a result he was questioned and he told the officer that he had checked in two suitcases. His luggage was then checked and two packages were discovered concealed at the back of each suitcase.
A further check of the four packages revealed that they contained narcotics as stated in the charge. When he was questioned by the CANU officer, Duffie told him that he had stayed at a hotel with which he was not familiar and was given the packages by a man, whose name and address he did not know. He was then arrested and charged with the offence.
When asked by the magistrate whether he wanted to say anything, Duffie declined. He was then sentenced and fined by the magistrate.
