AN OVERSEAS-BASED Guyanese on Monday pleaded guilty to bird smuggling and was fined $140,000 when she appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. It was alleged that on May 21, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Emily Persaud of Morris Avenue, Bronx, New York, attempted to smuggle several species of birds out of Guyana.
The unrepresented defendant accepted the charge and did not say anything in her defence.
Chief Magistrate McLennan fined Persaud $140,000, as well as prohibited her from obtaining an import or export licence for the next two years.
According to reports, about 16:30 hrs on the day in question, Persaud was an outgoing passenger on a Dynamic Airlines flight destined for JFK International Airport, USA.
It was observed by an airhostess that the woman was behaving in a suspicious manner while boarding the aircraft.
A search was done on her while on the plane steps and 15 species of Towa-Towa birds were found concealed in large hair curlers strapped to her waist.