A Guyanese man was last Saturday nabbed at the JFK International Airport in New York attempting to import cocaine mixed in a bottle of rum, the New York Daily News has reported.
According to the report Cleveland Charles arrived in New York last Saturday aboard a Caribbean Airlines flight from Georgetown, Guyana, and was selected for inspection by Customs and Border Protection officers. Officials focused on a bottle of 12-year-old El Dorado rum inside Charles’ suitcase.
The passenger claimed that he had purchased it at a duty-free shop at the airport in Guyana, according to the Brooklyn Federal Court complaint. A Customs officer “then opened the bottle, which contained a thick syrup like substance with a strong odor that appeared inconsistent with rum,” Department of Homeland Security special agent Scott Salamon stated in the complaint. A field test of the liquid came up positive for cocaine, according to Salamon.
