[www.inewsguyana.com] – A Guyanese national nabbed smuggling cocaine inside cans of diced fruit came up with story that’s nuttier than a fruitcake.
Colin McKenzie allegedly told the feds that he thought he was smuggling diamonds. McKenzie, 48, and his two suitcases were selected for inspection on Friday last by Customs and Border Protection officers after he stepped off a Caribbean Airlines flight at the JF Kennedy Airport.
Inside the suitcases were three large tin cans that McKenzie claimed contained diced fruit. But the cans “felt unusually heavy and did not feel as though it contained liquid or syrupy material,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security special agent Edward Gonzalez said in a Brooklyn Federal Court complaint.
The cans were X-rayed and showed they contained material of a uniform, not liquidy, composition, according to the complaint. The material tested positive for cocaine and the gross weight of white powder was 10 kilograms.
McKenzie may not have helped his cause by admitting that he thought the cans contained diamonds, not dope. He allegedly said that someone in Guyana gave him the suitcases and offered to pay him between US$5,000 and US$6,000 if he delivered them to an identified person in the U.S., the complaint states.
McKenzie was held without bail. [Extracted and modified from New York Daily News]
