A drug trafficker was yesterday jailed for eight years and fined $60 000 after admitting he had cocaine and ganja for trafficking.
Royston De Viera, 31, of 158 Hampshire Squatting Area, pleaded guilty to two charges of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and was handed the sentence by Magistrate Adela Nagamatoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrates’ Court.
Police prosecutor inspector Satrohan Dayaram told the court that acting on information received, police swooped down on De Viera’s home at around 12:30pm on Thursday and conducted a search. During the search, a quantity of seeds, leaves and stems suspected to be marijuana was found in a vase in the lower flat. The ranks also found in a blue and white plastic plate, a creamish rock like substance, which they suspected was cocaine.
De Viera was arrested and the items were taken to the Albion police station. The leaves, seeds and stems were weighed and confirmed to be 18 ½ grams of marijuana, the prosecutor said. The rock-like substance turned out to be 18 grams of Cocaine. De Viera was informed of the offence being committed and charged.
He was sentenced to four years and fined $30 000 on each charge. The court was informed that De Viera was previously before the court on similar charges.
