TWO foreign nationals were, on Wednesday, fined in excess of $449 million each and jailed for four years, six months after they were found guilty of a number of criminal charges in connection to more than 760 pounds of drugs found in an aircraft which made an unauthorised landing at Mahdia Airstrip, Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) on Sunday.

This is according to a statement from the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

23-year-old Brazil national, Mateus Vinicius Pontes Alberto, and 43-year-old Colombia national Rodrigues Canon Dandres Estiven were held by Guyanese law enforcement in connection with 639.9 pounds of cocaine, and 120.45 pounds of marijuana found in a white Cessna skyline single engine aeroplane.

The aircraft, with registration number #N5470z, is suspected to have come from Venezuela, police said.

In the initial statement on the bust, the GPF said: “An intelligence led operation by the Guyana Police Force at around 14:20 hours yesterday (July 10, 2022), resulted in the arrest of a Colombian and a Brazilian national when their plane landed at the Mahdia Airstrip with a large quantity of suspected cocaine and cannabis.”

“A search of the said aircraft unearthed 10 large parcels containing suspected cocaine and one small parcel containing suspected cannabis,” the police said in the report on Sunday’s bust.

The suspected cocaine and cannabis were seized along with one satellite phone, two GPS, two cellular phones, one Icon radio set along with documents.

Police said that as it relates to the cocaine find, the defendants were fined $435,380,640 and sentenced to four years and six months in jail, respectively.

For the marijuana find, the men were fined $49,171,680 and sentenced to four years and six months in jail, respectively.

As it relates to operating the civil aircraft without an airworthiness certificate, the men were fined $2,000,000 each and sentenced to one year in jail, respectively.

For interference with an aircraft, the men were fined $2,000,000 and sentenced to one year in jail, respectively.

Since the aircraft was deemed to not have insurance, the men were fined $3,000,000 and sentenced to one year in jail.

Lastly, for false and misleading aircraft marking, the two men were fined $2,000,000 and sentenced to one year in jail, respectively.

The sentences will all run concurrently. Therefore, the men will spend the maximum of four years, six months in jail.

Police had said the value of the cocaine was $435,380,640, while the marijuana found was valued at $49,171,680.