Berbice man jailed, fined $100,000 for trafficking cannabis

Ameer Mohamed Ali, a 36-year-old resident of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (Region 5: Mahaica-Berbice), was on Wednesday sentenced to three years in prison and fined $100,000 after pleaded guilty to trafficking 650 grams of cannabis on March 25 at Plantation Park in Mahaicony.
Reports are that on March 25, ranks of the Mahaicony Police Station, acting on information received, conducted a stop-and-search exercise on the public road at Park, and signalled the driver of a blue-and-black minibus that was approaching to stop, and he complied.

When ranks searched the passengers, nothing incriminating was found; but when then searched the bus, they discovered a black-and-yellow haversack under the back seat. When questioned, no one claimed ownership of the bag.
Upon opening the bag in the presence of the occupants of the bus, ranks found a red shirt wrapped around three black plastic bags, each of which contained leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis.
The bag was seized, and the vehicle and passengers were escorted to the Mahaicony Police Station for further investigation. A more thorough search of the haversack unearthed a Ministry of Health voucher with Ali’s name in the front pocket, and Ali subsequently claimed ownership of the bag and the narcotics. He was thus informed of the offence, cautioned, arrested, and subsequently charged.
In his arraignment on Wednesday before Mahaicony Magistrate Allan Wilson, Ali told the court that he was sorry for what he had done, and asked for leniency.