Lusignan fish exporter moves for US plea deal in shrimp coketail bust

Jul 26, 2015 News

A local seafood exporter nabbed by US authorities last month in relation to a 268-kilo cocaine shipment from Guyana to Brooklyn has signaled his intentions to strike a plea deal.

US prosecutors are working on a plea deal with the Guyanese fish exporter over 268 kilos of cocaine stuffed inside frozen shrimp.

Heeralall Sukdeo, whose place of business is Lusignan Pump Road, East Coast Demerara, made another appearance on Friday in an East New York court, where a joint application was made to delay trial.
Both the prosecutors and Sukdeo’s defense team want up to August 9th to continue negotiations which could result in the case not having to go to trial.
Sukdeo will remain in custody of the US authorities, in the meantime.
Sukdeo, according to the application, said he understood that federal law gives him the right to have formal charges laid within 30 days of his arrest and a trial 70 days of those charges being lodged. He said that he was not threatened or coerced for his consent.
The application was granted by Chief Magistrate Judge Steven Gold.
In June, US Federal agents have discovered a new delicacy from Guyana — shrimp coketail.
A drug-sniffing dog noticed something fishy about a shipping container that arrived at the Red Hook Terminal, Brooklyn, from Guyana and found 268 kilos of cocaine stuffed inside frozen shrimp, according to a complaint unsealed in the Brooklyn Federal Court.
The whale of a catch has an estimated street value of more than US$12 million.
The agents secretly removed the coke-filled crustaceans and tailed the container after it cleared customs on June 15, according to U.S. Homeland Security special agent Ryan Varrone.
The container was delivered to an unidentified warehouse in Brooklyn where agents spotted Heeralall Sukdeo “together with others … organizing and supervising the unloading” of the shipment, the complaint states.
Sukdeo, 59, the owner of Sukdeo and Sons Fishing, a shipping company based in Queens, was arrested, but said he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
“Sukdeo stated that he was present only in the vicinity of the truck containing the target shipment because he was curious about its contents,” Varrone stated in the complaint.
The shipment had originated in Guyana and was addressed to “Randolph Fraser” which is apparently Sukdeo’s alias, an employee told the feds.
Sukdeo was ordered held without bail.
Defense lawyer Andre Travieso said Sukdeo has never been arrested before.
“I’m pretty confident that when all the facts come out, this was just a huge mistake,” Travieso told the Daily News, insisting that his client did not order the drug-crusted shrimp.