A chef who was caught at the Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport (CJIA), Timehri trafficking over 500 grammes of cocaine, was yesterday sentenced to three years in prison, and fined $1.4 million, after he pleaded guilty to the charge of drug trafficking.
Anthony Gibson, 26, of East Ruimveldt, yesterday pleaded guilty to a charge read by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan which stated that on April 24, at the Georgetown Public Hos-pital Corporation (GPHC), he evacuated 548 grammes of cocaine which he had swallowed.
According to Police Prosecutor Arwin Moore, Gibson was an outgoing passenger at CJIA, on April 23, heading to The Bahamas on a Caribbean Airlines flight. The prosecutor said,
Gibson was observed by officers of the Narcotics Branch, acting in a suspicious manner, and when questioned by the ranks, later revealed to them that that he had ingested pellets filled with cocaine. As a result, Gibson was then escorted by the ranks to the GPHC, where he later discharged a total of 52 pellets, each filled with the suspected cocaine. The prosecutor told the court that the accused admitted under caution that he had committed the offence.
Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan before sentencing the accused asked him if he wanted to tell the court why he had trafficked the drugs. Gibson related to the court that at the time he needed the money, since he was no longer working at Royal Castle after he had injured his hands. The accused added that he needed to provide for the mother of his child and his child. He apologized for his actions, and reminded the court that it was his first offence.
When asked by the chief magistrate who had provided him with the pellets, he replied that ‘Jermain’ had given it to him and he had related all of this to the police.
Chief Magistrate McLennan later cautioned the man and told him that he should thank God for the Guyana Police Force, since they took him to the hospital, after he had ingested the pellets, which could have killed him.
Chief Magistrate McLennan, sentenced Gibson to three years imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of $1,479,600, which amounts to three times the street value of the narcotics.
