A 59-year-old woman was this morning sentenced to four years in jail and fined $6.2M for trafficking cocaine in a false section of her suitcase.
Seeta Rampersaud appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and broke down in tears as she confessed to the charge, which stated that on September 18, 2017, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), she had 2.318 kilograms of cocaine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Custom Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) Prosecutor, Konyo Sandiford told the court that on the day in question, Rampersaud was an outgoing passenger on a Caribbean Airlines flight destined for JFK airport, New York.
At the CJIA, Rampersaud placed her suitcase on the scanner after checking in, when a CANU officer noticed strange objects inside the suitcase.
The suitcase was taken off from the scanning area and was pierced at the back, where a whitish substance emanated. It was tested positive for cocaine. The Prosecutor added that the woman had assisted CANU with their investigation to find her recruiter.
The unrepresented woman broke down in tears while standing in the prisoner’s dock as she explained that she was recently laid off from working as a security guard in Suriname because she was sick.
According to Rampersaud, she returned to Guyana to ‘fix up’ her old age pension and it was while in a minibus to Guyana, she met a woman by the name of ‘Nandy’. The suspect said ‘Nandy’ had given her a contact for a man who “will help her get money faster” and all she had to do was travel overseas for him.
“I put the number in my phone and I called him and he said meet him at Giftland,” Rampersaud told the court. At the meeting with the man, Rampersaud related that he [no name given] said he would send her overseas with a suitcase, which he would provide for her.
“I keep asking he if it get cocaine inside and he said no granny,” the tearful woman said.
“When they pierce the suitcase at the airport and I see the white thing I couldn’t believe what was happening…. I admit that I do a wrong thing,” Rampersaud said through tears.
