THREE defendants, after confessing to having small quantities of cannabis sativa (marijuana) in their possession, separately, were collectively fined $15,000 by Magistrate Rhondel Weaver, at New Amsterdam Court in Berbice. In addition, the men were, Tuesday, ordered to perform a total of 504 hours of community service, failing which they will, each, be sentenced to two months imprisonment.
Forty-year-old Troy Fraser, of Number 20, West Coast Berbice, was walking along the village road on July 18, when police on mobile patrol observed that he was behaving suspiciously.
A subsequent search of his person uncovered a transparent plastic bag tucked in his left side jersey sleeve in which one gramme of the hemp plant was found.
Speaking with a North American accent, Fraser, an Internet café’ owner expressed deep regret over the discovery but claimed the prohibited substance was for his personal use.

SAME NARCOTIC
Lakeram Ganesh, 30, of Mount Sinai, West Canje, was nabbed with two grammes of the same narcotic also by a police patrol shortly after 20:00hrs on July 18.
Police Corporal Raquel Mars, prosecuting, said, following his arrest, Ganesh told ranks that it was his first offence.
Twenty-one-year-old Ryan Samaroo had three grammes of marijuana, too, when he was arrested.
The court heard that he is a repeat offender, of Ogleton Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, the squatter community on the eastern fringe of New Amsterdam and he said he had the marijuana for his own use, as well.
However, Magistrate Weaver, addressing the men individually, ordered that they each do three months community service at the Fort Wellington and Central Police Stations, respectively, every Monday and Friday, from 09:00 hrs to 16:00 hrs and, if they fail, the alternative is two months imprisonment.