A shopkeeper who was arrested after police destroyed a ganja field at Bamboo Landing, in the North West District, was yesterday remanded on charges of cultivation and possession of narcotics.
Michael Anthony, 40, pleaded not guilty to both charges when they were read to him at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry. It is alleged that on March 14, at Bamboo Landing, North West District, Anthony cultivated cannabis. On the same day, he is accused of being found with 180 grammes of the prohibited substance.
Police Corporal Venetta Pindar, in giving the prosecution’s case, said a party of police was on patrol at Bamboo Landing, when ranks went to Anthony’s home, where they conducted a search and found a quantity of stems, leaves and seeds, suspected to be cannabis.
Pindar added that the ranks also searched his yard, where they found the illegal substance among ochro and bora plants. He was cautioned and taken to the police station, where the substance was weighed. Anthony was subsequently charged for the offences. Police had said a field of about 1,500 marijuana plants, with a height of about 10 feet, was found and destroyed during a drug eradication exercise in the area.
In a bail application, Anthony’s attorney Gregory Gaskin stated that his client was not found on the farm nor did he admit to owning the prohibited substance.
He added that the area in which the search was conducted was not fenced, so the public could easily access it. In addition, he said that the cannabis was not found in his client’s possession but in his shop, which was a public space. Gaskin added that his client posed no flight risk and was known to everyone in the area. However, the Magistrate denied the bail request and the matter transferred to Matthew’s Ridge Magistrates’ Court for May 3.
