THREE men were jointly charged for the possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.Those charged are: Kwesi Samuels,40, called ‘Big Worm’ of Lot 231 Smythfield; Dellon Harry of Lot 59 Stanleytown and Reynard Aulder, of Lot 28 Paradise Village, West Coast Berbice. They were granted $100, 000 bail each after they pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The trio who appeared before Magistrate Marissa Mithelholzer at the Reliance Court in East Canje, was arrested following a sting operation in New Amsterdam along Republic Road, on Monday afternoon. This newspaper was informed that on the day in question, a decoy had approached Samuels and requested to purchase $600,000 worth of ganja. Samuels who previously had several brushes with the law and had faced charges of robbery under arms and trafficking in narcotics, accepted the marked money, and proceeded to contact his supplier.
In the meanwhile, police ranks were positioned at a popular hangout spot in the vicinity of Tucber Park, and Winkle Road, where the supplier was expected to drop off the illegal drug. However, the driver of the white Toyota IST motorcar on seeing the armed ranks, accelerated and in the process, threw the Karibee bag out of the right front window. The police retrieved the bag and found that it contained cannabis sativa which weighed four and a half kilograms. Instantly, the policemen pursued the vehicle along Republic Road, in New Amsterdam where it was intercepted moments later.
Attorney Tania Warren Clement in her application for bail for her client, Samuels, told the court that the defendant never had the illegal drug and as such bail should be allowed. But, although Inspector Godfrey Playter objected to pretrial liberty on the grounds of the nature and gravity of the offence, its prevalence, and that no special reasons were advanced, the Court overruled the submission and allowed for the defendants to be granted bail. The case was transferred to the New Amsterdam Court, where it is fixed for hearing, report and fixture.