GEORGETOWN: Guyana’s national footballer Manasseh Primo has been arrested in New York for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs into the United States, a top police officer here has confirmed.
Primo, also a striker with local club Alpha United, was nabbed at the JFK International Airport last Thursday, Head of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), James Singh, has said.
The 25 year old forward has been remanded to prison after immigration officers at the airport discovered that he had swallowed pellets believed to be cocaine, the media here has reported.
Primo has been quoted as telling immigration officials at the JFK that he was there to participate in a football tournament as well as visit relatives.
However, the agents apparently did not believe Primo’s story and proceeded to interrogate him until he admitted to ingesting a quantity of cocaine pellets, according to media reports here.
Reports also say he was taken into custody and excreted approximately 51 pellets, which amounted to some 740 grams of the illegal narcotic.
The Guyanese striker has since appeared in court and is currently being held at the Brooklyn Metro Detention Centre.
CANU said that they are assisting with the investigations in an effort to find the source of the cocaine in Guyana.
Several Guyanese sports figures have been arrested over the years for cocaine trafficking including National Power Lifting Champion Colin Aubrey Chesney, who admitted to swallowing cocaine pellets after he was caught at JFK airport last month.
Some years ago national footballer Marlon Hendricks died in Barbados after he swallowed a quantity of cocaine pellets, which burst in his stomach.
