Two dredge operators were both remanded to prison on Monday after they were charged with trafficking cannabis into the interior.
Carlos Ross, 43, of Lot 101 Third Avenue, Bartica, and Sherlock Goodridge, 31, of Lot 6 De Kinderen, West Coast Berbice, pleaded not guilty to the charge that on January 9, at the Itaballi Police Checkpoint, they had in their possession 25 grammes of cannabis for trafficking.
Ross also pleaded not guilty to a separate charge alleging that he had 4 grammes of cannabis in his possession.
Attorney Mark Conway, who represented the men, told Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan that while at the Itaballi police checkpoint, the men were travelling in a lorry with 30 other persons. The lawyer said that the drugs were not found in the possession of either Ross or Goodridge but on a truck with other people. As a result, he asked that the men be released on reasonable bail.
But police prosecutor Deniro Jones claimed that while the defendants were passengers on a lorry when they were approached by the police at the checkpoint, Goodridge was seen by police placing a bag under a seat. When the police got hold of the bag, he added, they found what appeared to be cannabis. Jones added that when Goodridge was arrested, he told the police that Ross gave him the bag of cannabis to hide. As a result, he objected to the men being released on bail.
Chief Magistrate McLennan subsequently remanded both men to prison until February 3, when the case will be called again at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.
