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Nigerian jailed for cocaine trafficking

Mar 20, 2013 News

 
Paul Ateli, a Nigerian language translator, was yesterday sentenced to a jail term of 4 years and 6 months by Magistrate Sueanna Lovell for trafficking in narcotics.
Ateli appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The man, whose addresses were given as 22 Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar, and also of Bonnie Straat, Paramaribo, Suriname, was found in possession of 5510 grams cocaine.
Ateli had denied the charges during his first court appearance. He had claimed that the story was a case of fabrication and that the reason why he had been coming to court was to clear his name because he did not commit the crime.
“I can’t believe I was found guilty by the court,” Ateli responded after hearing the verdict.
The matter was prosecuted by Customs Anti Narcotics Unit’s Oswald Massiah
Massiah told the court that the sentence must reflect not only to the locals but to those abroad the seriousness of the crime perpetrated.
Massiah, had earlier noted that while Ateli had furnished the court with a Lot 22 Delhi Street, Prashad Nagar address, he had given investigators a Suriname address as well.  The special prosecutor also said that while Ateli told the court he would be here for two weeks, he told investigators two years. Additionally, CANU’s investigations had revealed that Ateli had entered Guyana illegally from Suriname. Ateli had told law enforcement officers that he was not a permanent resident of Guyana but a frequent visitor, and that he had intended to spend two weeks here before returning to Nigeria.
Ateli was charged in January last year. It was alleged then that on January 3, 2012, at the Guyana Post Office Corporation, at North Road, he had in his possession 510 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
According to the details of the case, Ateli and a woman, a 49-year-old cosmetologist of South Ruimveldt Park, attempted to mail a number of packets containing false nails. The packets were pierced by officials who then discovered a powdery substance within them.

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