CARETAKER Ian Smith, 23, of 123 Third Street, Alberttown, Georgetown was remanded to prison yesterday after he appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to answer a charge of having intention to traffick 3.970 kilogrammes of cannabis.Particulars of the charge stated that Smith was found with the cannabis on December 23 in Werk-en- Rust, Georgetown; but Smith pleaded not guilty to the charge, even though the prosecutor, Corporal Bharat Mangru, said that ranks from the Narcotics Unit went to Smith’s abode and found two separate amounts of the cannabis in a room.

Mangru said one parcel contained 3.215 kilogrammes while the other contained 755 grammes. When the defendant was confronted, Mangru said, he admitted to the allegation, but refused to write a confession after he was arrested and charged for the offence.

Smith’s lawyer, George Thomas, contended that his client never made an oral confession. He said he was instructed that his client lives at 123 Third Street Alberttown, but had visited a woman at the address the cannabis was found. He said his client had an ‘altercation’ with the woman at the time the police came.

Thomas asked the magistrate to set bail in a reasonable sum for his client, but the prosecutor objected to bail being granted Smith on the ground that no special reason had been raised by the defense counsel.

Smith will be spending this Christmas in prison, but his matter is set to be continued on January 6.