A JOINT operation conducted last Saturday by local and US drug enforcement agents at the John F Kennedy Airport in the U.S. succeeded in snaring yet another Guyanese woman with cocaine. The woman, who is alleged to have had several pellets of the substance in her stomach, has been identified as Shellon Beckles, and taken into police custody at the American airport.
Her apprehension comes mere weeks after a similar operation saw a Guyanese hairdresser being busted at the said JFK with over 100 pellets of cocaine in her stomach.
Beckles was nabbed by Customs and Border Protection officers who engage in a daily battle against drug mules trying new ways to conceal their cargo.
Two weeks ago, 26-year-old Shureen Giddings was charged for unlawfully importing cocaine into the United States.
Giddings was apprehended on November 9, after arriving on a flight from Guyana. According to court documents, Giddings was subjected to a Customs and Border Protection examination. The court documents revealed that during the examination, Giddings appeared nervous, prompting the officers to conduct a ‘pat-down’.
However after extensive questioning, she admitted swallowing the cocaine-filled pellets, and told the agents that she could no longer hold them, requesting to use the bathroom, the court documents revealed. One hundred and five pellets were expelled from her body, carrying a total weight of just over three pounds. She was immediately arrested and charged.
Meanwhile, US officials have noted that within the International Arrivals Building at Kennedy Airport’s vast terminals, there is a daily battle of wits between drug mules trying to conceal their illicit cargo in everyday objects like salt shakers, food, wigs, underwear, kitchen pots, prosthetic limbs and body cavities.
Of the nearly 14 million travellers passing through the terminal last year, about 400 were targeted for further investigation, and 26 per cent of those targeted were caught with contraband, officials said.