Drugs in barrels: Republic Park resident slapped with narco trafficking charge

A 53-year-old Republic Park, East Bank Demerara man who was reportedly caught with $18 million worth of drugs was on Monday remanded to prison.
According to police, Ken Benjamin of Lot 457 Hopkinson Street, Republic Park, EBD was arrested June 14.

On Monday he was charged with the offence of Possession of Narcotic for the Purpose of Trafficking Contrary to Section 5 (1) (a) (i) of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substance (Control) Act Chapter 10:10.
It is alleged that he had 51,650 grams of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking on June 14.
He appeared at the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrate’s Court before Principal Magistrate Sunil Scarce and pleaded not guilty. He was remanded to prison and the case was adjourned to August 14.
Last week, it was reported that Police in Regional Division 4 (B) unearthed a large quantity of drugs during an intelligence-led operation at Republic Park, East Bank Demerara.
Reports were that the drugs were found stashed away in four 45-gallon barrels.
According Police June 14, at about 17:30h, the operation was led by a senior superintendent to the house where a search was conducted in a storage room of the property.
Police said that in the presence of two men, who were at the property, four 45-gallon barrels which contained several bulky plastic bags wrapped with transparent scotch tape were found. The parcels were examined and found to contain a quantity of leaves, seeds, and stems. The men, however, remained silent and were both arrested.
In a statement, Police said that they observed a motorcar, which was parked on the bridge in front of the property, and it was also subjected to a search and a bulky plastic bag containing a quantity of leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis was found.
Both men were escorted to the Diamond Police Station where the narcotics found in the motor car were weighted and amounted to 2900 grams while the narcotics found in the storage room were weighed and amounted to 48,750 grams.
According to Police, the total street value of the narcotics is $18.7M.