Drug mule jailed for 4 years, fined $2.8M

Levi Kulsum

Six hours after he was found with a quantity of cocaine his suitcase, Guyana-born American citizen Levi Kulsum 23, pleaded guilty to trafficking in narcotics when he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive Hamilton yesterday.
He was subsequently sentenced to four years imprisonment and fined $2.8M. The fine has to be paid upon completion of his sentence.
Clad in all-black, the young man stood calmly in the docks, as the charge which stated that he attempted to export some three kilos of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri, yesterday morning. He was unrepresented in court.
Special Prosecutor for the Customs Anti Narcotics Unit (CANU) Oswald Massiah said that Kulsum was seen acting in a suspicious manner yesterday morning at the airport. The prosecutor explained that Kulsum who is a Guyanese by birth, was attempting to board a flight back to his adopted homeland.
The prosecutor further explained that the suitcase was placed in the luggage scanner by agents from CANU.
Massiah said that agents paged the defendant and the suitcase was searched in his presence.
The drug, according to the prosecutor, was found in a false compartment of the suitcase. After the drug was discovered Kulsum admitted to the offence. The prosecutor said that he also admitted that he had served a jail term in the United States for robbery under arms.
When asked by the magistrate if he had anything to say the man indicated that he did not.