Mini-bus driver jailed, fined three times value of marijuana

Last Updated on Tuesday, 31 May 2016, 17:03 by Denis Chabrol

A mini-bus driver, who allegedly drove through a police road block and was moments later caught with more than 12 kilogrammes of compressed marijuana, was jailed for four years and fined more than GYD$19.5 million.

The fine represents three times the street value of the marijuana.

Thirty-five year old Ossie Mc Farlane of Hopetown West Coast Berbice was found guilty of the charge of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking

He appeared at the Blairmont Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Rhondell Weaver for trial for the offence that was committed on September 29, 2015 when he refused to stop at the roadblock in front of the Fort Wellington Police Station.

The court was told that after lawmen took evasive action, they pursued the silver grey car and intercepted it at Plantation Hope, West Coast Berbice.

Prosecutor Inspector Althea Solomon told the court that the eight packets of compressed marijuana were found in a multi-coloured bag in the trunk.

Defence lawyers, Mursalene Bacchus and Perry Gossai said their client did not drive through the road block and had no knowledge that the marijuana was in the car. Mc Farlane said when police approached the car he had stopped near he parapet because a passenger had gone into the bushes to ease his bowel.