Elderly man jailed for trafficking 23 pounds of cocaine

A 63-year-old South Ruimveldt, Georgetown resident was on Friday sentenced to four years jail and fined $28.6M for trafficking over 10 kilograms of cocaine via the Guyana Post Office.

Dennis Jones, who previously served a jail term in 2012 for a similar offence, was on trial before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for trafficking 10.618 kilogrammes [23 pounds] on January 20, 2017.

Anti-narcotics agents intercepted a box containing a total of nine kilos in Baking Powder bags and 1.62 kilos of liquid cocaine in two Banko wine bottles found in a mail destined for Canada.

The defendant was arrested by Custom Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) ranks after they found him hiding in his ceiling.  In a caution statement, Jones admitted to placing the drugs into the Baking Powder and Banko bottles for a “lil hustle”.

The Magistrate in her ruling noted that Jones had knowledge of the drugs given his action of hiding in the ceiling.

His attorney, Eusi Anderson told the court that Jones has since commenced attending church, wants to be baptized and has plans to turn his life around.