Levi Alleyne, who allegedly dropped baggies of marijuana while fleeing from police, was remanded to prison yesterday after he was charged with drug trafficking.
Alleyne, 20, of Lot 65 Paradise Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara, pleaded not guilty to a charge of possession of narcotics for trafficking when he appeared before Georgetown magistrate Ann McLennan.
It is alleged that on September 13th, at the Kingston Seawall, in Georgetown, Alleyne had 21.7 grammes of cannabis in his possession.
According to the prosecution, ranks were on patrol duty on the seawall when they saw Alleyne acting in a suspicious manner. As a result, they approached him and requested to conduct a search but he refused and instead started to run.
Police say Alleyne was chased by ranks but he managed to elude them in a crowd. However, he allegedly dropped a black plastic bag containing 21 small Ziploc bags which contained the cannabis.
Alleyne, who was known to police, was subsequently arrested at the Stabroek Market Square three days later.
The unrepresented Alleyne, who is a phone card vendor, denied the prosecution’s allegations and he noted that he was told a different version of the facts presented when he was arrested and taken to Criminal Investigations Department at Eve Leary.
He begged the court to grant him his pre-trial liberty. “My worship, I got a little daughter and on the same day my mother asked me to take her for ice-cream and I did take her to the seawall to get it and about minutes to 8 we did already home. I ain’t know about no marijuana,” Alleyne told the court.
After considering the submissions, the magistrate ordered that Alleyne be remanded to prison until the next hearing, which is scheduled for October 9th.
