A Lethem hotelier was yesterday remanded to prison after he was charged with the illegal possession of 118 pounds of cannabis and 3.5 pounds of cocaine as well as attempting to bribe police to discontinue the investigation.
Marlon Jarvis, 44, stood before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in a Georgetown court, where she read him the two charges.
The first charge alleges that Jarvis, on April 3rd, at Tabatinga, Lethem, had 53.74 kilogrammes (equivalent to 118.4 pounds) of cannabis, and 1.59 kilogrammes (equivalent to 3.5 pounds) of cocaine in his possession for trafficking.
It was also alleged that on the same date and at the same location, he willfully attempted to pervert the course of justice by handing $180,000 to Samuel Trotman and directing him to give it to the police to drop the narcotics investigation of which he was the focus.
While Jarvis denied the narcotics charge, he was not required to enter a plea to the second charge since it was indictable.
Police prosecutor Gordon Mansfield told the court that on the day in question, Lethem police, acting on information, went to an unfurnished flat structure and carried out a search. Prior to the search being conducted, the prosecutor noted, the police observed someone running from the building as they were approaching but they were unable to apprehend the person.
Mansfield said during the search of a room in the building, the narcotics were found. Further investigations were then carried out and those led to the arrest of Samuel Trotman. Mansfield added that while Trotman was being questioned by police, the accused called him and the conversation between the two was recorded. Jarvis, it is alleged, spoke about paying $1.2 million to the police for the drugs to be returned to him but indicated that he only had $200,000.
Mansfield said a sting operation was later set up. Trotman was released from police custody, he added, and he was later visited at his home by Jarvis, who allegedly gave him $180,000. Jarvis was then arrested by police. Following the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Trotman was released and Jarvis was charged, the prosecutor added.
After the prosecutor’s objections, attorney Jerome Khan, who represented Jarvis, asked for bail. He contended that there was no aggravating circumstance, no evidence of the defendant’s involvement, that the drugs were not found on his person and that he did not give any police officer any sum of money.
However, the magistrate later remanded Jarvis to prison until April 18th, when the case will be called at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court.
