A US-based Guyanese who pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle over 13 pounds of cocaine in milk packets into the United States was yesterday sentenced to four years in prison, while his alleged accomplice was remanded following a not guilty plea.
Fifty-two-year-old Cranson Carlson Henry of Crane Housing Scheme, West Coast Demerara and also of Rockaway Avenue, Brooklyn, New York, appeared before the Diamond\Grove Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where he was also fined a $30,000, due to the prosecutor failing to present a certificate of value for the narcotics.
The second man, 44-year-old Mark Ferdinand of Samaria Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, had appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly. He was remanded to prison until March 27, when his case will be called again.
Both men had been charged with having in their possession 6.070 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport at Timehri, East Bank Demerara for the purpose of trafficking.
The Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) had issued a press release stating that they had intercepted Henry who was an outgoing passenger destined for the US and questioned him. He revealed that he had a quantity of narcotics in his luggage. When his luggage was searched, seven Milex milk packets containing a whitish, powdery substance suspected to be cocaine were found.
Henry and the suspected narcotics were escorted to CANU headquarters where it tested positive for cocaine and weighed a total of 6.070 kg or 13.4 pounds with a street value of $13.3 million. According to CANU, the street value of the cocaine would have been greater if it had reached its intended destination.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Ferdinand, who, CANU said, had been arrested in 2015 in the US on a drug-trafficking offence. CANU said Ferdinand’s brother, Berkeley Ferdinand was also charged in 2016 for the same crime and was sentenced to three years behind bars.
