THREE convicted prisoners are facing separate charges of being in possession of narcotics following a routine check at the New Amsterdam Penitentiary recently.
The trio, Gordon Rollins, Mohan David and Nazim Khan, appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo in New Amsterdam Court, Berbice, last Friday and were remanded to prison pending trials. David is alleged to have had five grammes of cannabis sativa (marijuana) when he was searched by a prison officer on October 16. However, the convict, who is incarcerated for a similar offence, told the court that he was walking in the prison kitchen when he saw a parcel on the floor, kicked it and, at that stage, the officer arrested him.
Khan, allegedly, had one gramme of leaves, seeds and stems of the hemp plant, when a search was carried out on his person. But, denying the allegation, he said he was in the prison yard when another prisoner in the infirmary gave him the newspaper which he did not know contained the ‘ganja’.
The other defendant, Rollins had been assigned to work outside the prison walls, when, on his return, was nabbed with 24 grammes of
marijuana concealed in his crotch, the court was told.
The men are expected to be back in court on January 21 and February 11, 2013, respectively.