A GUYANESE man, Roger Levans, has won a lawsuit filed against Delta Airlines after cocaine was found in his suitcase, New York Daily News reports.A Brooklyn jury ordered Delta Airlines to pay US$759,000 in damages to Levans, a security guard who was arrested after a nefarious baggage handler planted cocaine in his suitcase.

“I must give praise and thanks to God!” a beaming Levans said outside Brooklyn Federal Court yesterday, after the jury deliberated only two hours and found the airline was negligent.
When he was stopped in the John F Kennedy Airport back in January 2011 after a Delta flight from Guyana, Levans told Customs officers he was bringing back “cooked rabbit.” He was arrested after officers found three bricks of cocaine alongside the food in his suitcase.
Levans spent one day in jail and was sacked from his job at Yankee Stadium. But while Levans was free on bail, the Feds determined that his bag was indeed tampered with after he had checked his luggage.
BAGGAGE HANDLER
A corrupt baggage handler apparently tied a ribbon to the suitcase containing the illicit drugs so it would be recognised by an accomplice in New York City, according to court papers.
Delta’s lawyer argued that the airline was not responsible for whoever put the drugs in Levan’s bag. Levans’ security guard license was eventually restored, but he did not get back his gig at Yankee Stadium. Instead, his employer assigned him to a lower-paying post at a construction site.
“In all my life, I never had a handcuff on my wrist or spent a day in jail until this happened,” Levans said. “It was an ordeal.”
The food he was bringing back to his family was seized and never returned. “The rabbit got away,” he said.
Delta’s lawyer Michael Crowley had argued to the jury that the airline was not responsible for whoever put the drugs in Levans’ bag. He said the airline will appeal the verdict.
“When you go on a plane, passengers play by the rules to ensure it is safe, but Delta was trying to say it didn’t have to play by the rules,” said Levans’ lawyer Caitlin McNaughton. (NY Daily News)