London- bound St. Lucian man with cocaine in stomach fined, jailed

Last Updated on Thursday, 26 November 2015, 22:42 by GxMedia

A St. Lucian sales representative Thursday admitted that he was attempting to smuggle almost half a kilogramme of cocaine in his stomach to  the United Kingdom, and he was fined and jailed.

Twenty-six year old Kendol Joseph was jailed for three years and fined GYD$1.2 million by City Magistrate, Fabayo Azore on a charge of being in possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.

The facts were that between November 22 and 24, 2015 he had in his possession 480 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking at Woodlands Hospital, Carmichael Street, Georgetown.

 “I was forced to ingest the substance,” he told the court.

Police Prosecutor, Bharat Mangru said the man was arrested by Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) agents on November 21, 2015 shortly before he was about to board a Caribbean Airlines flight to the United Kingdom.

He was taken to Woodlands Hospital where an X-ray revealed that he had foreign objects in his stomach. During his admission at that health care facility, he excreted 45 pellets containing the cocaine.

Joseph was not represented by a lawyer.

He is the third St. Lucian to have been arrested in recent weeks in Guyana with cocaine. Two women were caught attempting to smuggle cocaine in dildos in their vaginas.

They have been convicted, fined and jailed.