Ex-con gets four years after Springlands cocaine bust

An ex-convict pleaded guilty to a cocaine charge and has been sentenced to four years imprisonment while a pensioner with whom he was jointly charged pleaded not guilty and was remanded to prison.

The men, Tariq Nabidulla, 35, and Fitzhubert Grimes, 79, both of Race Course, Springlands, reportedly had in their possession seven and a half grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

At the No. 51 Court yesterday, Magistrate Krishndat Persaud heard that on December 12, around 3 pm, police, acting on information, carried out a search on the men’s home and found a transparent plastic in a chair in the living room.

Sergeant Michael Grant, prosecuting, related to the court that the bag contained several small plastic parcels, which contained white rock-like substances suspected to be cocaine.

The men were subsequently arrested and taken to Springlands station with the suspected drug, where it was weighed in their presence.

Nabidulla was also fined $157,500 after his guilty plea. Reports are that he was recently released from prison after serving a two-year sentence for another offence.

He pleaded for leniency and the magistrate responded that the two years did not do him any good. The magistrate further told Nabidulla that because he did not waste the court’s time he did not impose a five-year sentence.

Grimes was ordered to appear at the Springlands Court on December 16.