A Guyanese man who travelled to the US from Guyana to pick up a more than 500 pound cocaine shipment in a container of fish, has been convicted and is now awaiting sentencing.

The man, Heeralall Sukdeo who owned a New York based company  that imports fish from Guyana was convicted Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court of smuggling 250 kilos of cocaine in a frozen shrimp-laden shipping container.

According to the New York Daily News, he claimed he was duped by a relative who is in the fish business, too, and was left holding the bag after the feds found the bricks hidden inside blocks of ice.

“The defendant is a drug smuggler,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Harris told the jury, “and he was caught red handed.”

The cocaine, valued at over US$8 million, was shipped from Georgetown, Guyana, and arrived at the Red Hook pier in June 2015.

The agents were unable to repack the frozen shrimp in the 20-foot container and substituted a 40-foot container which they placed under surveillance.

The much larger shipping container apparently did not arouse Sukdeo’s suspicion when he flew in from Guyana to pick up the load.

Sukdeo’s $500,000 bail was revoked after the verdict.

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