A Venezuelan man who was caught trying to leave the island with US$83,000 and $49,000 bolivars — some of which was hidden in shampoo and lotion bottles — was fined $700,000 in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court last Thursday.

Forty-three-year-old Randolph Fernandez was sentenced by Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey after he pleaded guilty.

He was ordered to pay $250,000 or serve three months each on charges of attempting to remove criminal property from Jamaica and concealing criminal property, and $100,000 or three months for possession of criminal property.

Fernandez was arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston last November as he was about to board a flight to Dutch-speaking Curacao.

During security procedures, he was stopped and searched and US$73,000 was found in bottles of shampoo and lotion while US$10,000 was found in his wallet.

A black strap bag that he was carrying was also searched and $49,000 bolivars, or Ja$60,000, was also found.

The prosecutor told the court that Fernandez under caution told the police that he was given a package by a man that he did not know and that he had been given certain instructions by a man name Juan in Venezuela, before coming to the island.

Attorney Tom Tavares-Finson, who represented the foreigner, told Senior Magistrate Judith Pusey that Fernandez was very sick and that he would like for him to be removed from the country to seek medical attention.

The magistrate, in handing down the sentence, said she would take into consideration that he was gravely ill and that he had already spent three months in custody.

The US$83,000 was forfeited by the State and he was recommended for a removal order.

— Tanesha Mundle