Boat operator remanded on ammo and ganja charges

A 26-year-old boat operator was yesterday refused bail by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton after he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on separate charges of possession of ammunition and narcotics.

The allegation against Laurel Thomas is that on April 5, at Millie’s Hideout Backdam on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, he had in his possession 28 .32 live ammunition rounds along with five matching spent shells. Also on the same day, at the same location, he was allegedly found with 153 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking. The Soesdyke resident denied both charges when they were read to him by the magistrate.

In his application for bail to be granted for the defendant, attorney-at-law Ronald Burch-Smith stated that his client had been in the interior and while away his vehicle GHH 8939 was found by the police. Burch-Smith went on to say that the camp in which the substance was found was a very open space, where anyone could have gained access.

However, bail was denied the defendant, and the matter transferred to the Christianburg Magistrates’ Court for
April 20.