Zanneel Nirmala Williams, 25, who was caught while trying to smuggle over 20 pounds of cocaine onto a flight last week, is now awaiting sentencing, while her two co-accused have been granted bail.
Williams, a former reporter of Lot 181 Lamaha Gardens, appeared at the Diamond\Grove Magistrate’s Court along with Anil Sookhoo, 33, who is a former Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) officer of Lot 127 Kuru Kuru Linden-Soesdyke Highway, and Shameka Caesar, 27, a Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officer of Lot ZZ D’Urban Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown.
Williams, who pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, was remanded to prison by Magistrate Sunil Scarce and sentencing was set for May 30, 2022.
The magistrate also ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Williams along with a probation report.
Sookhoo, who was represented by attorney Adrian Thompson, and Caesar, who was represented by Nigel Hughes, denied the charge and were each placed on $750,000 bail.
CANU had reported that on April 22, 2022, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, Williams, who was an outgoing passenger destined for the United States, had a quantity of suspected cocaine concealed in her carry-on bag.
She was then taken to CANU Headquarters, where a further search was conducted and a quantity of cocaine was also found strapped to her body.
The narcotics weighed a total of 9.628 kilos (7.962 kilogrammes discovered in her luggage and 1.666 kilogrammes strapped to her body). Further investigations led to the arrests of Sookhoo and Caesar.
