Chicken smuggler jailed, fined as GRA secures another conviction

An Annandale, ECD fisherman was sentenced to one month imprisonment, fined $235,200 and had his vehicle forfeited when he appeared before Magistrate Annette Singh in the Georgetown Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Ishwarie Jeffery AKA Warrie was charged in October 2020 for knowingly carrying uncustomed and restricted goods with the intent to evade the restrictions and defraud the Guyana Revenue Authority of duties.

The facts of the matter between Godfrey Statia, Commissioner General, GRA and Ishwarie Jeffery, the Defendant, read that back in 2020 the the Defendant was intercepted on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, in the vicinity of National Cultural Center with 28 bags of foreign chicken legs quarters were conveyed in motor vehicle GNN 5710 contrary to Section 218 (d). The man had reportedly removed chicken from the foreign-labelled bags and placed them in black plastic bags with the intent to deceive customs officials.

This matter was successfully prosecuted by GRA’s Head of Law Enforcement and lawyer Jason Moore while the Defendant was represented by Attorney-at-Law Gary Romlochan.

Late last year, GRA secured the conviction of three other persons on similar charges after they were nabbed smuggling chicken, alcohol and mosquito coils.