Hungarian convicted for cocaine trafficking in Guyana
Thursday, May 20, 2004
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): A Hungarian was
sentenced to three years in prison for trafficking four kilograms (8.8 pounds)
of cocaine, which he had concealed in vehicle oil-filters.
Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen imposed the sentence on Atilla Robert
Lestal, 36, after he pleaded guilty on Tuesday.
He spent three months in jail trying to get money from Hungary to recruit a
lawyer. The magistrate ordered Lestal be
deported at the end of his sentence to Budapest.
He was nabbed on February 24 at Guyana's Cheddi Jagan International Airport,
while preparing to board a flight to Suriname en route to Italy.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) prosecutor Oswald Massiah said the
Hungarian, who had arrived in Guyana as a tourist on February 6, was arrested
after ant-narcotics agents spotted four dark objects as it passed through an
airport scanner. He later admitted that the cocaine inside belonged to him.
Lestal pleaded for a light penalty because he worked in a garage in Hungary
and had a four-year-old daughter to care for.
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