Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson recently remanded to prison a man who was allegedly found with a quantity of cannabis in his possession, when he appeared in court to answer to the charge.
Manoj Singh, a 27-year-old fuel dealer of Cullen, Essequibo Coast pleaded not guilty to allegedly having 70 grammes of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking on August 28, at Black Water Creek, Port Kaituma, North West District.
Singh told the court that the police framed him for the offence after he declined to give them money when they solicited same from him. The man said he normally buys fuel from the Guyana Oil Company and sells it to persons in the hinterland. He said on the day in question he had just sold 30 drums of fuel to several persons and had been seated in his boat at Port Kaituma with ten other drums of fuel when several policemen approached him and ordered him to give them $30,000 since he was transporting fuel. He said when he refused to pay; the lawmen doubled the sum and later arrested him and took him into custody.
He told the court the lawmen said, “If I wan de case foh don I gah pay a $100,000 and when I tell them I ain’t gah dah type ah money they tell me that they gon charge me but I din know was for drugs.” He claimed that the police did not find any narcotics on his person.
The prosecution told the court that Singh was born in Essequibo and that he currently resides in Venezuela.
The man was ordered to appear in the Matthews Ridge Magistrate’s Court on November 3.
