2 sentenced for trafficking cocaine in diplomatic pouches in 2004

TWO former employees of the Foreign Affairs Ministry have been sentenced to close to eight years in prison after they were found guilty of trafficking cocaine to New York and Canada, two decades ago.

Justice Gail Gonzales sentenced Micah Smith, 51, and Kurt Alexis, 47, at a virtual sentencing hearing on Friday.

A jury at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain found Smith and Alexis guilty on October 19.

Smith was found guilty on two counts, and Alexis was found guilty on one.

They were also both jointly charged alongside another person with conspiracy to traffic cocaine, but at the start of the trial in September, they were all discharged on that count after the prosecution said it would be presenting no evidence.

Smith was sentenced to four years, 11 months and two weeks on the first count and seven years, ten months and three weeks on the second. He was told he would serve the latter sentence, which runs concurrently with the first.

Alexis was sentenced to seven years, 11 months and two weeks.

Their sentences will run from the date of their conviction, the judge ordered.

In sentencing the two, Gonzales said they both breached the trust of their employer and their acts would have resulted in aspersions being cast on other innocent employees at the ministry.

The judge said the criminal acts were well planned and executed, and "embarrassed this country on an international level.

"This was international drug trafficking," she said, as she pointed out that the maximum sentence for the offence was a fine of $100,000, triple the street value of the drugs or imprisonment for 25 years.

She also said the criminal acts violated TT’s obligations under drug-trafficking treaties.

It was the prosecution’s case that on or about May 5 and 6, 2004, Smith trafficked cocaine. At the time, he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent several envelopes through a diplomatic pouch to the New York consulate and the Toronto High Commission between March and May 2004. The evidence in relation to the charges was that he sent an envelope on May 3, 2004, with a telephone directory, to the New York consulate. The envelope contained a telephone directory with a hollowed-out centre containing cocaine.

On May 5, 2004, he sent an envelope for Toronto which contained cocaine.

The evidence against Alexis, who also worked at the ministry, was that he sent an envelope to London in a diplomatic pouch on January 9, 2004 which contained cocaine.

Before the trial, Smith sought to have his indictment quashed and for his case to be heard separately.

However, Gonzales said she did not believe he would be unduly prejudiced if his case were tried with his co-accused.

Smith was represented by public defenders Delicia Helwig-Robertson and Ayanna Norville. Alexis was represented by attorney Colin Selvon.

State attorney Maria Lyons-Edwards represented the State.