Repeat drug offender gets 6 years, fined $1.7M in cocaine pellet case

Forty-two-year-old Shemroy Robertson, aka “Minutes”, who was arrested with 1.156 kilograms (kg) of cocaine pellets back in January 2016, was on Thursday sentenced to six years’ imprisonment coupled with a fine of $1.734 million following a trial in the High Court.
The matter was heard before Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif after Robertson was arraigned on the offence of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. The Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) reported that Robertson was arrested while hiding at a residence on Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, after he attempted to discard a bag containing 139 cocaine pellets in January 2016 during a pursuit.
Robertson is currently serving a two-year sentence on charges related to the offence of aiding in the commission of trafficking 1.174kg of cannabis. This conviction followed a CANU operation conducted on June 17, 2021, at Anns Grove Public Road, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Additionally, he was previously charged alongside three others back in March 2017, though those charges were subsequently dismissed. Earlier in the year, CANU reported that 29 drug-related convictions were secured during the year, with 14 for cocaine and 12 for cannabis, while three were convicted for ecstasy and cannabis products.
In addition, a whopping $311 million was collected in fines, with sentences extended up to four years depending on the quantity and trafficking intent.
Throughout 2025, the unit related that it had intensified intelligence-driven interdiction operations, targeting trafficking routes, organised criminal networks, and high-risk ports and border points. These operations contributed to significant seizures, arrests and case development, reinforcing Guyana’s role as an active disruptor rather than a passive transit point within regional trafficking networks.