The sentence was handed down by City Magistrate Judy Latchman in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court today.
Anthony Carmichael called ” Strongy” of Rosignol, West Coast Berbice was found guilty of the offence and will spend the next four and a half years in prison and was also fined $38.8M for trafficking 158 pounds of compressed marijuana.
The court heard that the 30-year-old on April 16, 2018, at Royal Castle Restaurant, Sheriff Street, had 72.008 kilograms of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.
CANU ranks found motorcar PKK 1609 with wrapped packages of marijuana in the back seat and trunk of the car. By this time, the driver had already fled the scene before the drug enforcement officers arrived.During the trial, a CANU officer testified that Carmichael had confessed to the allegation. He added that Carmichael admitted to having a lookout man, who told him that two pickup vans were following him. The CANU rank added that the accused further related to him that he was told to park his car at Royal Castle and leave it. The man then took a taxi and went back to Berbice.
A friend of Carmichael also took the stand and he told the court that the accused had called him and told him that he had marijuana coming from the Berbice River to bring out. The man posited that he did not traffic the drugs. He said it was Carmichael who did that and he (Carmichael)) was also the person behind the wheel on the day in question.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit prosecutor (CANU).Kunyo Sandiford, prosecuted the case.