– convicted trafficker tells magistrate
OLUKI Ian Lewis, who was sentenced to four years imprisonment on a drug charge, yesterday told Magistrate Priya Beharry that trafficking in narcotics is a “decent crime” instead of making people unhappy by robbing them.

Lewis, of 80 Zeelugt, West Coast Demerara, accepted that, on August 17, at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he trafficked in 1.82 kilogrammes of cocaine by attempting to export same.

According to Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) Officer Mr. Oswald Massiah, prosecuting, Lewis, a private computer technician, checked in with Caribbean Airlines to travel to St. Martin.

Massiah said while the defendant was going through the internal scanner, a CANU officer observed that he was uneasy and perspiring, although the air conditioning unit was on.

The Prosecutor explained that the CANU officer then pulled Lewis aside to inform him that he had reason to suspect that he had ingested an illegal substance.

Lewis was then escorted to the Woodlands Hospital where an x-ray revealed that he had objects in his stomach, Massiah said.

He added Lewis later excreted 66 cocaine pellets which amounted to the sum in the charge.

According to Massiah, Lewis admitted that he bought the illegal substance in Venezuela.

After Massiah read the facts, Lewis told the court that he accepted it all and that he prefers to smuggle drugs instead of making people’s lives uncomfortable by robbing them.

In addition to the jail sentence, the defendant was also fined $30,000.