Forty-seven-year-old Gordon Beaton of Suddie, Essequibo, was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magis-trate’s Court for allegedly being found with a quantity of cannabis and cocaine in different plastic bags while being a passenger on a bus.

Beaton pleaded not guilty to the two charges of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. The cases were subsequently transferred to the Suddie Magistrate’s Court for November 6.

The facts are that on October 22 at Aurora, Essequibo Coast, Beaton had 469 grammes of cannabis and 16.5 grammes of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Prosecutor Krishnadat Ramanah stated that on the day in question the police acting upon information received, set up a road block at Aurora Public Road, Essequibo Coast, and stopped minibus BKK 5262 in which Beaton along with several other passengers were travelling.

He stated that the police conducted a search on everyone in the bus including Beaton and then searched the bus where they discovered the cannabis in a black plastic bag, while the cocaine was in a transparent white bag, both stashed under the penultimate seat of the bus.

Ramanah noted that shortly after Beaton was arrested he admitted that he was the owner of both the cannabis and cocaine and proceeded to give the police a written statement about this.

An unrepresented Beaton, who appeared distressed, was later escorted out of the court by a policeman.