A man who was busted with about 273 pounds of marijuana during an operation conducted last year January by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU), has been jailed for four years.

Sean Thomas, called Yankee, 45, of William Street, Kitty, Georgetown had the custodial punishment imposed on him on Friday by Senior Magistrate Sunil Scare.

At the Diamond/Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts, Magistrate Scarce tried Thomas on two counts of the offence of possession of a narcotic for the purpose of trafficking.

The magistrate found him guilty of both charges when the matter concluded on Friday.

Consequently, he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on each of the two charges and fined $112,052,700—three times the street value of the illegal substance.
The two jail terms will, however, run concurrently.

On January, 11, 2023, CANU officers conducted an operation within the vicinity of Mandela Avenue, Georgetown, where they intercepted a motor vehicle with the driver alone inside.
A subsequent search of the motor vehicle revealed several parcels of suspected cannabis.

Further investigations led to the driver being escorted to a premises located in Eccles Housing scheme, East Bank Demerara (EBD), where a search of the premises was conducted.

The search was done in the presence of the driver and the owner of the vehicle and resulted in the discovery of several parcels of cannabis, some of which were concealed in barrels.

As a result of the discovery, Thomas and a 41-year-old woman of Eccles were arrested and escorted to CANU’s headquarters along with 123.85 kilograms of marijuana.

At his initial court hearing, Thomas had pleaded not guilty to the allegations and was thereafter refused bail and remanded to prison. The timing of his conviction coincides with significant advancements announced by CANU in its campaign to impede the trafficking of illicit drugs.