Former flight attendant Vinosh Maraj was yesterday fined $55,000 for trying to smuggle close to US$40,000 into the country.
Maraj, 32, of Morang Village, St Augustine, was ordered to pay the fine in one month or be sent to jail, by Magistrate Gloria Jasmath in the Arima Magistrates Court.
He had pleaded guilty to three charges stemming from the incident at the Piarco International Airport.
On the charge of bringing in restricted goods, he was fined $25,000 of in default three years hard labour. For making a false declaration he was fined $15,000 or 18 months in jail and on the charge of packaging to deceive a Customs officer he was also fined $15,000 or 18 months in jail.
The magistrate ordered that the US currency is deposited in the Treasury after the senior attorney for the Customs and Excise Divison Harricharan Kassie said the money had to be forfeited to the State.
Maraj, who had been employed with Caribbean Airlines for five years, had been in custody for a week as he was unable to secure bail.
According to the State’s case, on August 13, Maraj arrived on a CAL flight from New York. He had a 65-inch television set among his items to declare. When asked by customs officer Nicolas Joseph what else he had to declare, Maraj said he had a bottle of alcohol in his tote bag and a CAL standard operating procedure manual.
Upon searching the manual, the officer found US $36,000.
An additional US$3,054 was found in his possession.
His lawyers, Reynold Waldropt and Jeron Joseph, had argued for a non-custodial sentence citing his previous good character.