A FIFTY-NINE-YEAR-OLD businessman busted with marijuana at his home on Tuesday was remanded to prison by Georgetown Magistrate Ann McLennan.

Lloyd Allen denied the allegation, and will return to court on July 11 for report and fixtures.

Details of the charge allege that on Monday June 30, at Lot 163 Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Georgetown, he had in his possession 470 grammes of cannabis-sativa (marijuana) for the purpose of trafficking.

Allen was represented by Attorney-at-law, Mr. Euclin Gomes, who pleaded that several other persons occupied the same address, including sons and grandsons of the defendant.
He added that at the time the ranks visited, several other persons were there watching a football game, and the alleged room was not particularly occupied by any person at the time.

On those grounds, the defence lawyer requested that Allen be admitted to bail in a reasonable sum.

However, Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) prosecutor Oswald Massiah asked that bail be denied. He said a party of officers visited the defendant’s home at around 15:00 hrs, where they also met with two other males who are not visitors, but friends of Allen.

The defendant was taken into custody after a search was conducted and the illegal substance was found in a room.
Massiah noted that, in the presence of the other two men, Allen admitted that one of them lives at the bottom flat of his home, however, the two men denied they had anything to do with the alleged cannabis.

Magistrate McLennan told the court that having considered the facts related by the prosecutor and the defence attorney, the court was not satisfied that special reasons were provided for the defendant to be granted bail, so Allen was remanded.

(By Geeta Rampersaud)