A US-based Guyanese man was arrested at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on Friday, allegedly with some 40lbs of cocaine worth more than US$500,000 concealed between bags of frozen shrimp.
According to CBS 7 News outlet and the New York Post, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York stated that 22-year-old Zacharie Scott arrived at JFK on American Airlines Flight 2694 from Guyana. He was selected for a secondary screening by the US Customs and Border Protection and the drugs were discovered.
Stabroek News contacted Head of the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) James Singh for a comment on the matter, given that Scott’s luggage had been scanned here before he left. Singh indicated that like all busts, it was being investigated by CANU and further, it was a joint investigation between Guyana and US authorities. He said he could not give further information.
This newspaper also reached out to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) but no comment was forthcoming. The CJIA Public Relations officer said that she would return a call but up to press time this was not done. In 2021, the CJIA was boosted with over $400 million in state-of-the-art screening equipment.
According to the US press, inside Scott’s two suitcases, officers said they found multiple packages of frozen jumbo shrimp wrapped in sealed plastic. When they cut open the packages, they said, they found multiple bricks of cocaine, totalling nearly 18.5 kilogrammes/40 pounds. The cocaine fetches a street value of US$30,000 per kilogramme.
The press reports said Scott told investigators that he had smuggled the cocaine in exchange for an expected payment of US$5,000 – US$6,000. Scott is reportedly a US citizen who lives in Guyana.
Following his arrest on Friday, the reports said, he appeared before a judge on Saturday morning. He is currently being detained pending a bail hearing tomorrow. If convicted, Scott could face up to 20 years in prison.
In September of last year the vessels “MV Matthew” and “Mathieu” were found with 2.2 tonnes and one tonne of cocaine respectively. The first was apprehended by Irish authorities and the second by Spanish authorities.
Speaking on that investigation Singh had said: “Yes, the owner of ‘Mathieu’ gave a statement and is cooperating with CANU… the vessel ‘Matthew’ never came to Guyana, it only sailed within our waters in its journey to Ireland. It never docked in Guyana, there are no links between this vessel and Guyana. ‘Matthew’, which was held in Ireland, never docked in Guyana. It was in our international waters.”
Four Guyanese and two Albanians were arrested after they were found on the Guyanea-registered boat ‘Mathieu’, prompting local authorities to launch an investigation in Guyana.
