– for possession of some US$71M worth of cocaine

FOUR Guyanese men, who were found on board a vessel off the coast of Suriname with approximately 3,769 kilograms of cocaine, have pleaded guilty to the offence on the island of St Croix.

According to a release from the US Department of Justice, Mohamed Hoseain, 70, and Richard La Cruz, 51, both of Guyana, pleaded guilty on November 28, 2018 in federal court to possession of cocaine on board a vessel.

US attorney, Gretchen C.F. Shappert also announced on Monday that Neville Jeffrey, 66, and Mark Anthony Williams, 32, also of Guyana, pleaded guilty on November 29 and December 3, 2018 respectively, in federal court to the same offence.

According to plea agreements filed with the court, the US Coast Guard Cutter, Napier, on February 16, 2017 intercepted a suspicious vessel in a joint operation with the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard approximately 70 nautical miles north of Paramaribo, Suriname, in international waters.

The report stated that the vessel, later identified as the Lady Michelle, was located in a known drug-trafficking route and registered with St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Members of the US Coast Guard boarded the vessel pursuant to a bilateral agreement between the United States and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. “They discovered 185 bales containing numerous rectangular shaped packages of cocaine in the vessel’s fish hold weighing 3,769 kilograms,” the release said.

The drugs had a street value in the U.S. Virgin Islands of approximately US$71M. Reports are that Hoseain was identified as the captain of the vessel, and claimed that they were in search of a missing vessel for two months. La Cruz was identified as the engineer, and Jeffrey and Williams as crew members.

Hoseain, La Cruz, Jeffrey and Williams reportedly face as much as life in prison for the offence, and a fine of up to US$10M. Sentencing dates for Hoseain and La Cruz have been set for March 28, 2019 and March 29, 2019 respectively, while the date for Jeffrey and Williams was set for April 3, 2019.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the report stated.