A man who travelled to the US from Guyana last Sunday was busted with 11 pounds of cocaine packed in the false sides of his bag at the J F Kennedy Airport in New York.
According to US Homeland Security Special Agent, Derek Bergman, in court documents seen by this newspaper, Samuel Prashad arrived in the US on a Caribbean Airlines flight on February 12 and was singled out by Customs and Border Protection for a search.
Bergman said the man presented a brown bag of which he claimed ownership.
“During the inspection the bag was emptied, but the officer observed that the bag still remained extremely heavy.
The bag was then probed on the sides and a white powdery substance was discovered, which field tested positive for cocaine,” the special agent said.
The officer took out 5.092 kgs of the substance from the sides of the bag and the man was then charged. He was placed on US$100,000 bail by Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak when he appeared in court on February 13.
