NEW YORK: An American entertainer, who was charged for cocaine smuggling after being held at the Sangster International Airport last year, was given a 12- month mandatory sentence when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
He is 37-year-old Kevin Tapper of North Brunswick, New Jersey. The police reported that Tapper was among six people arrested in connection with the seizure of approximately 8.4 kilogrammes of cocaine at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay on December 18.
Also arrested were: 60- year-old entertainer, Claudette Miller-Robinson; 34-year-old entertainment manager, Simone Baccas; 35-year-old entertainer, Karell Wisdom; 34-year-old singer, Garth Jobson and 29 year-old singer, Ramone Rowe, all of St James addresses.
Tapper, Wisdom and Jobson are members of the trio 3rdNWest. Reports are that all checked in on the same flight about 5:00 pm destined for New York when they were searched by the police and cocaine with a total weight of 3.6 kilogramms found strapped to their bodies and hidden in shoes and slippers in their luggage.
They were also suspected of drug ingestion and taken to hospital where it was discovered that the four men had swallowed cocaine pellets. Over the course of three days they expelled 438 pellets with a total weight of 4.8 kilograms.
The cocaine has an estimated street value of $12 million, the police said. In addition to the mandatory 12 months’ sentence, Tapper was fined $100,000, or six months, for possession of cocaine and $150,000, or six months, for attempting to export cocaine.
He was freed of dealing in cocaine. Jobson and Rowe were sentenced to 14 months and nine months in prison, respectively. Wisdom is to return to court on May 1 for sentencing while the other two accused are to return on May 14.
