CHIEF Magistrate Ann McLennan on Friday remanded Leroy Junior Fraser of Buck Hall, Essequibo River, to prison until November 18 when he appeared before her to answer a charge of having, on October 26 last, at 70 Kilometres Police Station on the Barama Road, 674 grams of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.The 43-year-old truck driver pleaded not guilty to the charge; but according to the facts read by police prosecutor Inspector Neville Jeffers, at about 01:30hrs on the day in question, ranks at the 70 Kilometres Police Outpost, conducting a routine search, stopped the vehicle the accused was driving. They found a bulky plastic bag stashed in the spare wheel of the said vehicle, and a search was carried out on the bag, which was found to contain three transparent bags with the suspected cannabis inside. Fraser was arrested, and under caution admitted to knowledge of the cannabis.

Fraser explained to the court that there were several persons in the vehicle at the time. “Ninety-five percent of that story isn’t true; it was one of them man (passenger) own… When we been at Buck Hall landing, I told him I’m not carrying no weed in my vehicle,” the man stressed. He pointed out that he had led the police to the suspect, but the man was later released and he was charged instead.

The Chief Magistrate has remanded Fraser and transferred the matter to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court.