A Guyanese man whose suitcase was found with cocaine at the top of his cooked rabbit at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York had the drug charge dismissed against him early last month by Judge Cheryl L. Pollak.
Judge Pollak dismissed the charge against Roger Basil Levans, who at the time of his arrest last December said he was a guard at the Yankee Stadium in New York, on March 15, the same day the prosecution filed a motion requesting that the charge be dismissed.
While no reason was given for the dismissal, local investigators have indicated to Stabroek News that investigations revealed that the cocaine was planted in the man’s luggage after he had taken it to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.
A report in the New York Daily Mail in January of this year had said that Levans was caught with the cocaine on December 29, 2010 after telling inspectors that he had “cooked rabbit” in his luggage.
The report had said that three bricks of cocaine were found in the man’s luggage.
The report said he got off a Delta Airlines flight from Georgetown on Dec. 29, and wrote on a Customs declaration that he was carrying food items, according to a criminal complaint filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.
“Levans was asked what kind of food items he was carrying, to which he responded “cooked rabbit”, Homeland Security special agent Noah Abbott had said in the complaint.
Levans’ three suitcases were passed through an X-ray machine and the inspectors were suspicious about what they picked up, the report said.
The first two bags contained fruits and vegetables – and no rabbit, according to the complaint.
The inspectors then noted that Levans appeared “nervous and anxious” when they peered inside the third suitcase, the report said.
“Again, no rabbit – but there were three brick-shaped packages wrapped in brown masking tape. A Customs and Border Protection agent poked them, revealing three kilos of cocaine”, the report said.
Levans, who was released on US$100,000 bail, stated in an affidavit that he works for Guardsmark Security as a guard at Yankee Stadium.
