Guyana woman faces death penalty in Bangladesh for record $11M cocaine trafficking bust

Guyana: A woman identified as 63-year-old Karen Petula Stuffle from Guyana has been charged with the largest cocaine trafficking in history to Bangladesh. She might face a death penalty in Bangladesh for the 8.66 kg drug smuggling estimated to be worth $11.1 million USD or Tk 130 crore (1.3 billion taka), said the Bangladeshi police.

The 63-year-old hairdresser and repeat offender of drug trafficking was caught smuggling the 8.66 kg cocaine on August 26 in three plastic jars and within the jars contained 22 oval-shaped foil-wrapped packages of cocaine when the  airport authorities at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport intercepted her as she was arriving in Bangladesh through Qatar Airways flight from Doha. As of now, she remains detained in Bangladesh and is yet to face her sentencing.

Directorate Sonia Akter, the Deputy Director of Customs Intelligence and Investigation said Stuffle was carrying the largest amount of cocaine when an alert was issued in the airport and she was captured after completing her arrival visa formalities as she was crossing the green channel.

She was detained and searched when  the authorities discovered the 8.66 kg of cocaine after testing and weighing by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) airport unit. Authorities have confirmed that departmental proceedings are currently underway, with steps being taken to file charges under the Penal Code and the Customs Act for alleged smuggling.

This, however is not Stuffle’s first drug trafficking offence as reportedly,  back in September 2018 the now 63-year-old was charged and sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to trafficking 2.5 pounds of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri. She served a 4 year sentence in jail and was fined $2.3 million after stating that she was sorry and would never repeat the offence.

However, this time around Stuffle’s may not be looking at just jail time and a fine as Bangladesh holds some of the world’s strictest laws against drugs. The Bangladesh laws state under both the 1990 Act and the strengthened Narcotics Control Act of 2018, possession of more than 25 grams of cocaine, a threshold Stuffle has exceeded, can result in the death penalty.

The 2018 amendment clarified the  penalties for “Category A” narcotics such as heroin and cocaine, specifying that offenders caught with over 25 grams will  face either capital punishment or life imprisonment. While those found with less than 25 grams risk prison sentences ranging from two to ten years.

In October 2021, a Khulna court in Bangladesh, sentenced a male individual to death for possession of 2.25 kilograms of cocaine, underlining the enforcement of the legal threshold that Bangladesh holds. The order was vastly frowned upon by the international human rights organisations including Amnesty International and Harm Reduction International.

The international human rights organisations have long been criticising Bangladesh for the use of capital punishment on drug related offences calling their approach excessive as the world is moving towards the abolition of capital punishments.