Surinamese man sentenced to 2.5 years in prison

A 27-year-old Surinamese man who was on trial in France on Monday was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison after being found guilty of drug trafficking. Reports indicate that the man had left French Guyana for Suriname and that he was given cocaine pellets by a supplier in Suriname. The drug mule then went back to French Guyana before taking a flight to Paris. Upon his arrival in Paris the man took a train but was eventually caught at the Le Mans station. After it became clear that he was smuggling drugs, the man was taken into police custody. The drug mule on Monday had to explain to the judge how 115 cocaine pellets that weighed 950 grams in total ended up in his stomach. The defendant was also given a fine of about € 80,000. The confiscated cocaine reportedly has the same street value as the fine that was given to the defendant. If the unemployed defendant can’t pay the fine, he will have to spend additional months in the state penitentiary. A growing number of drug mules who are caught explain to the French courts that they had travelled from French Guyana to Suriname to be stuffed with cocaine pellets. They usually swallow the cocaine pellets in hotels in Suriname. The same day they return to French Guyana before taking the plane to France. The defendants also tell the French courts that their contacts in Suriname also gave them a plane ticket and some cash. The drug dealers reportedly recruit desperate people with financial problems as drug mules. The drug mules are often recruited in French Guyana. The French Public Prosecutor’s Office pointed out that the drug networks in Suriname and French Guyana are collaborating to get cocaine on the European market.