Truck driver freed of 9.25kg ganja trafficking charge

A 41-year-old truck driver who had been facing a trafficking charge over 9.25 kilograms (kg) of cannabis was on Thursday freed after Senior Magistrate Dylon Bess ruled that the prosecution failed to prove its case.
Reaaz Bacchus of New Amsterdam, Berbice, was charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking after police ranks stopped motor lorry GAG 2438 on the Bagotstown Public Road, East Bank Demerara (EBD), on July 5, 2024. According to the prosecution’s case, 18 parcels, containing leaves, seeds, and stems suspected to be cannabis, were found stashed inside two bulky multi-coloured shopping bags hidden in a toolbox compartment under the lorry. The parcels, tightly wrapped in transparent plastic, were later weighed and given as 9.25kg.

Bacchus was taken before the Providence Magistrate’s Court and granted bail in the sum of $2.7 million. He was further ordered to report to the Providence Police Station every Friday pending the hearing and determination of his trial. At one stage, the matter was adjourned until July 29, 2024, for the disclosure of statements.
But defence attorney Bernard Da Silva argued that the state’s case could not withstand scrutiny. In submissions dated May 14, 2025, and again on July 30, 2025, Da Silva told the court that “the prosecution’s best efforts, with the limited but challenging quality of investigations, have failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The defence attacked the evidence on several grounds. Firstly, the drugs were not found in the cabin of the lorry, described as the immediate reach of the driver, but instead in an “empty toolbox” positioned outside the defendant’s control. The toolbox was not secured by a lock, and police were able to access it without Bacchus’s assistance. Da Silva told the court this meant the compartment was “accessible by the public”, making it impossible to pin sole responsibility on his client.
Secondly, Bacchus testified that he was “only one of many drivers who drive the subject lorry.” He was neither the registered owner of the vehicle nor the only person with access to it, and the registered owner was never called as a witness. When confronted at the time of the search, the accused reportedly told ranks, “Officer, I don’t know about that; it’s not me alone driving the truck.” The defence stressed that the prosecution failed to refute this sworn account.
The submissions also highlighted that the ranks admitted that no fingerprints were lifted from the bags or toolbox, no gloves were used during the seizure, no video or photographic evidence was produced despite one rank claiming a video was recorded, and the scale used to weigh the narcotics was not a prescribed, calibrated instrument. Da Silva argued that such lapses “proved fatal in this instance.”
After hearing the evidence, Magistrate Bess ruled and dismissed the charge against the Bacchus.