Clive David, a former Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs officer was yesterday jailed for three years after being found guilty of trafficking in cocaine via mail.
David, 31, was represented by attorney Patrice Henry who asked that the minimum sentence be imposed on the father of five. Magistrate Fabayo Azore, who found that the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that David had both knowledge and possession of the drugs, also fined him $1,941,000, which is three times the street value of the narcotics.
In 2014, David was charged with trafficking 647 grammes of cocaine on April 9, 2014 at the Guyana Post Office (GPO) on Robb Street, by posting the narcotics concealed in envelopes. He had denied the charge.
The court had learnt that on the day in question at about 1pm, police attached to the Narcotics Branch at Eve Leary conducted a perfunctory check on an outgoing mail bag bound for the John F Kennedy (JFK) Airport. During the check, five sealed envelopes containing cocaine were discovered. The suspected cocaine was sealed and lodged and, acting on information received, the police arrested David, a Customs Officer of nine years. David was attached to the GPO mails branch.
The man was questioned and admitted that he had collected the envelope from a “Yankee” to post to the United States on the promise that he would be remunerated US$1,000 for the deed.
