Months after denying a cocaine trafficking charge, former media worker Zanneel Williams on Friday changed her plea to guilty and was further remanded to prison.
In April 2022, Williams, 26, of Lamaha Gardens, Georgetown, made her first court appearance before Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Diamond/Grove Magistrates’ Court.
She was jointly charged with Anil Sookhoo, 33, an ex-officer of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) of Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway;and Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officer Shameka Caesar, 27, of Durban Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown.
During her first appearance, she pleaded guilty to the charge; the next month during her second court appearance, Williams change her plea to not guilty.
On Friday, the trial was scheduled to commence in the case, but Williams opted to plead guilty, again.
She confessed to trafficking 9.628 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on April 22, 2022.
The matter was adjourned until February 27, 2023, for the presentation of her probation report and sentencing.
According to reports, Williams was nabbed at the airport with 7.9kg of cocaine concealed in the walls of her laptop bag.
At the time, she was an outgoing passenger on a Jetblue flight B6 2166, which was destined for the United States. She was arrested and taken to CANU Headquarters, where 1.6 kg of cocaine was found strapped to her body.
Based on a further investigation conducted, Sookhoo and Caesar were arrested; they are currently on $750,000 bail.
