A THIRTY-THREE-year-old Guyanese is now an inmate of the Brooklyn Metro Detention Centre after his carry-on luggage was discovered with three pounds of cocaine at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.According to reports, Customs and Border patrol agents noticed that the man, identified as Broderick Owen Layne, had a “carry-on” that appeared bulky. Upon closer examination, the authorities discovered that the small suitcase had a false bottom, where the illegal substance was found.

The Georgetown resident touched down at the U.S. airport on November 22. During the examination of his luggage, he replied in the affirmative that he had packed the bags himself, and was aware of all that was inside. Nothing illegal was discovered within his other suitcases.

Police immediately arrested Layne after the discovery, while he was told of the offence and subsequent charged. He is being represented by a public attorney.

LOCAL RECORD
Last month, a 26-year-old Guyanese hairdresser was also arrested after it was found that she had swallowed a total of three pounds of cocaine pellets as a narcotics “mule” out of Guyana. Sources close to Guyana’s Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit say she has “set a local record for swallowing such a large number of pellets.”

And September last, another Guyanese, Cleveland Charles, was nabbed trying to smuggle a ‘rum-and-coke’ drug cocktail in his luggage at the John F Kennedy International Airport.

Additionally, in August two more Guyanese citizens were busted separately trafficking cocaine into the United States. Hilary Shepard arrived at the JFK Airport on a Caribbean Airlines flight from Trinidad and Tobago when Customs and Border Protection found over seven pounds of cocaine in his suitcase. In the same month 22-year- old Alisa Peters was caught with drugs in her possession after arriving at the JFK Airport from a Caribbean Airlines flight. The cocaine was sealed in wooden planks inside her suitcase. She reportedly admitted that she was to be paid US$8,000 to transport the illegal drugs into the United States.