By Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – The never-touch-the-product philosophy did not do Michael Juan Gregorio Samboe any good. For picking up a girl from the airport and giving her shelter for one night, the 46-year old was hit with an 8-month prison sentence in the Court in First Instance on Wednesday. Half the sentence is suspended.
Denise L. arrived on October 3, 2014 on a flight from curacao, carrying a red suitcase. Samboe picker]d her up and the intention was that he bring her back to the airport for an Air France flight to Europe the following day.
Somehow, the girl got nervous and she went with someone else to the airport on October 4. There she was intercepted by detectives who found 315 grams of cocaine hidden in a vacuum plastic bag in the lining of the suitcase.
The woman told detectives that she was in dire financial straits and that she would get $2,000 for taking the drugs to Switzerland.
The court ruled that Samboe seemed to be “an important link” in the smuggling route from Curacao to Europe. While there are indications that this was not the defendant’s first venture into the cocaine business, the court could not establish that he is a member of a drugs smuggling organization.
The court rejected a request from the prosecution to terminate the suspension of Samboe’s pretrial detention, because the defendant had abided by the conditions of the suspension. The court found no grounds to order the defendant’s detention. One reason for this decision, though not mentioned in the ruling, is that Samboe has 14 days to appeal the verdict
Drugs smuggler gets light sentence
