Cash-strapped pilot busted again in cocaine distribution

Jul 24, 2015 News

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As if losing his planes and bank accounts and facing jail time were not enough, a Guyana-born pilot charged with smuggling bulk cash is now in deeper trouble in the US.
Prosecutors said he was plotting to bring five kilos of cocaine aboard his plane from Guyana to the US, even while he was facing court for the cash-smuggling charges.
Captain Khamraj Lall last month pleaded guilty in a deal with US prosecutors and was out on bail awaiting sentencing on October 27th.
However, on Wednesday, US Marshals arrested him in New Jersey, a state near New York, and charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine.
Yesterday, United States Attorney William Hochul, Jr announced a federal grand jury has returned a two-count indictment charging Lall, of New Jersey, with possession with intent to distribute, and to distribute, five kilograms or more of cocaine and importation of five kilograms or more of cocaine into the United States.
According to 7thspace.com online news, the charges carry a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison, a maximum of life and a US$10,000,000 fine.
Assistant United States Attorney Robert Marangola, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, between December 2013 and February 10, 2015, the defendant conspired to possess and import from Guyana into the United States, five kilograms or more of cocaine.
Lall is accused of transporting the cocaine on his flights from Guyana to the United States.
Following his arrest Wednesday in New Jersey, he made an initial appearance in federal court in the District of New Jersey and was detained. The defendant will be returned to the Western District of New York at a later date. Lall’s arrest is connected to that of nine other defendants in February 2015.
Edward Mighty, Seymour Brown, Andre Taylor, Ricardo Bailey, Robert Wilson, Kenneth Harper, Desmond Bice, and Christopher Samuels, all of Rochester, New York, were charged by criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 280 grams or more of cocaine base. They were accused of using a telephone to facilitate drug trafficking.
Defendants Mighty, Brown, Taylor, Wilson, Harper, Bice, and Samuels were also charged with possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and conspiracy to possess firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking.
According to the complaint, Mighty is one of the leaders of a Rochester-based drug trafficking organization and would obtain kilogram quantities of cocaine from Winifredo Gonzales.
The cocaine was transported to Rochester and processed, re-packaged, and distributed in various quantities of both powder and crack cocaine through multiple sellers in the Rochester area.
On February 10, 2015, officers executed a search warrant and arrested Gonzales at a residence in Brooklyn. Officers recovered 17 kilograms of cocaine and two handguns, including an UZI 9mm pistol. Officers also seized approximately $70,000 in United States currency.
According to prosecutors, Lall’s indictment is the culmination of an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue Service; Criminal Investigation Division; the Rochester Police Department and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents yesterday, Lall violated his bail in the bulk cash smuggling by participating in another crime. He had been on a $100,000 secured bond on December 1, 2014 in New Jersey.
Prosecutors are now asking the court to rule if the bail in this case should not be revoked.
Lall was nabbed by Puerto Rican authorities in a high profile arrest back in November while transporting more than US$600,000 in cash aboard his jet.
In a plea deal submitted, Lall agreed for US$620,588 along with the 1988 Israel fixed wing multi-engine aircraft bearing Registration N822Ql and used in the crime, to be forfeited.
Under the deal with the US Government, Lall pleaded guilty to one count – of concealing more than US$10,000 in his plane and attempting to transfer it outside of the US to Guyana.
He would have been facing up to five years on a number of charges if he had opted for a trial and found guilty, according to court documents seen by Kaieteur News.
Lall, who operated from a private hangar at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and controlled KayLees Gas Station at Coverden, East Bank Demerara, has also agreed that other assets may be subject to forfeiture as there is still a pending civil matter for assets seizure in New Jersey, where he has homes, vehicles, cash and other properties.
As part of his filings, Lall, who had his licences revoked, submitted a waiver of right to trial by jury.
In addition to imprisonment, the court will impose a term of supervised release of not more than five years with no possibilities of parole, or that the sentence be suspended for any reasons.
Lall is also facing a civil matter, with the US Government going after luxury vehicles, another plane, more than US$400,000 cash lying in several frozen bank accounts as well as at least three properties.
Lall was arrested after his jet made a stop to refuel in Puerto Rico, on its way to Guyana.
Stashed in different parts of the plane was more than US$600,000 that Prosecutors say was not declared by Lall.
He reportedly took responsibility for the cash at the time of arrest. On board were his father and another person.
It was disclosed that the pilot, who also owns a limousine service in Guyana, had flown Government officials. There were swirling questions over the operations of the hangar he has at Timehri. The PPP/C Government had denied that it granted the company any special privileges and said that the operations were in keeping with regulations.

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