[www.inewsguyana.com] – Twenty-one-year old Keon Brewster was charged with the illegal possession of cocaine, to which he pleaded guilty and subsequently sentenced to four years imprisonment by Magistrate Ann McLennan on Monday, June 29.
Brewster of ‘B’ Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown, was also fined $17.2 million. Details surrounding the case state that on May 29 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, (CJIA), Brewster had in his possession 6.304 kilogrammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
Brewster was charged jointly with two air conditioning technicians attached to the airport. He had initially pleaded not guilty. Based on footage from the video surveillance, investigators believe that the transaction took place in one of the washrooms at the airport.
Anti Narcotics Police said they recognized that the rum appeared unusually thick and so they decided to test and weigh it. Brewster identified the two technicians as the persons who allegedly gave him the drug in rum after he was arrested.
Who are the big suppliers of the cocaine industry in Guyana. They need to be caught. If it is not stopped there will always be the low level dealers. Arresting and imprisoning the low level dealers is not the answer only. It is an embarrassment to all Guyanese as almost every week a Guyanese is arrested at the foreign airports in USA, CANADA with cocaine under the guise of milk powder or champion baking powder. Just this week an indo Guyanese was arrested in USA on his job where cocaine was addressed to him of which he used an afro Guyanese name as an alias. This is an embarrassment to hard working, successful law abiding Guyanese. The stigma now is Guyanese are drug dealers and are now being targeted unnecessarily.
Please step up the security and searches at the Guyana airport when people are leaving the country as they will surely be caught at the foreign airports. There are drug sniffing dogs who are trained to detect drugs, there are cameras that can detect hidden areas in baggage and there are experts who can detect suspicious individuals. Guyana should invest in these drug detection measures. It also poses a threat to the loss of Airlines who do not want to pay thousands of dollars in fines if drugs are on their flight.
Please stop this major problem soon as well as the crime for the sake of tourism, the stigma of the nation and the preservation and economic growth of Guyana.