PREVIOUSLY remanded prisoner Maxwell Monah was sentenced to three years imprisonment, in his absence, last Friday.

Magistrate Chandra Sohan inflicted the custodial punishment on the absentee after convicting him of trafficking 99 grammes of marijuana at New Amsterdam Prison.

In addition, the prisoner, of Number 30, West Coast Berbice, was fined $39,600, the street value of the narcotic with the alternative of another 12 weeks in jail.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Fazil Karimbaksh, prosecuting, said the convict absconded after being granted bail.

Monah, who had been on remand pending trial of another criminal case, last attended Court on December 13, 2007, when he was searched at the penitentiary where the drug was unearthed from under his scrotum.