A United States citizen was held last week at the JFK International Airport with just over 10 kilos of cocaine concealed in packets of baking powder in her luggage and she told authorities that she thought she was transporting diamonds for her father in Guyana.
Alizah Henry was charged on Monday with importing cocaine into the United States and she was released on a US$35,000 bond.
According to a sworn criminal complaint filed by Edward Gonzalez, a Special Agent with the US Department of Homeland Security, Henry touched down at the JFK airport in New York on a Caribbean Airlines flight on June 6th. She was subsequently selected for a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Examination, during which she presented two suitcases for inspection.
Gonzalez’ complaint says a search of one of the suitcases unearthed four white plastic bags, labelled “Champion Baking Powder,” and which all field-tested positive for cocaine. Another four bags were found in the other suitcase and they too tested positive for cocaine.
The total approximate gross weight of the cocaine recovered was 10.086 kilogrammes.
After Henry was arrested, she waived her Miranda rights and told authorities that she had been living in Guyana for approximately three years and her father, who also lives here, agreed to purchase a ticket for her to return to the United States if she transported something for him.
Henry further told authorities that her father provided her with the suitcases and packed them for her. She said too that he told her that after arriving at JFK she should take the bags to the Holiday Inn closest to JFK, where she would be met by someone who would pay her and retrieve the substance from the suitcase. She was to have then sent the money to her father via Western Union.
Gonzalez also said Henry admitted that her father had previously been deported from the United States for a crime involving drugs but told her that she was carrying diamonds for him.
Henry’s claims are similar to those made by Guyanese Colin McKenzie, who was busted on February 26th with approximately 10.365 kilogrammes of cocaine at the same airport. The drug was concealed in cans of diced fruit in his luggage.
After waiving his rights, McKenzie told the authorities that he had been given the two suitcases by an individual in Guyana, who offered to pay him to hand over the suitcases to an unknown individual in the United States. He too stated that at the time he believed the suitcases contained diamonds.
