Wazim Mohammed, who was found guilty of cultivating and trafficking in 30 kg of marijuana at Gateroy on the Berbice River, was yesterday sentenced to four years imprisonment on each charge, when he appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrates’ Court. The sentences will run concurrently.
According to the facts, Mohammed, was arrested after a party of policemen headed by Assistant Superintendent Calvin Brutus, went to the riverain community on an eradication exercise on June 1, 2010.
Police Prosecutor, Inspector Donna Fraser, led four witnesses who testified that they saw Mohammed, as he slashed overgrown weeds with a Stihl grass cutter in the marijuana cultivation plot.
The police team had gone to a bushy area on the western side of the river bank, but was alerted by the sound of the grass cutter being operated by Mohammed.
The police subsequently saw Mohammed and next to him was a large polythene sheet in which was a quantity of dried leaves, seeds and stems, suspected to be cannabis sativa.
Further, the prosecutor said, Mohammed took the police to a large polythene tent where another batch of marijuana was. There were also three additional marijuana fields, where, in greenhouses, a quantity of plants measuring two to eight feet was discovered.
Mohammed was escorted to Central Police Station where the charges were instituted.
