Cargo handler charged over ganja

Junior Squires
Junior Squires
Junior Squires

A cargo handler accused of trafficking almost three kilogrammes (kg) of cannabis on a Port Kaituma- bound vessel, was remanded to prison yesterday.

Junior Squires, 31, of Lot 242 Berbice Street, refuted the police’s claims that he on July 14, at Kingston, had 2.530 kg of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking, when the charge was read to him by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

It is the police’s case that Squires was employed as a cargo handler attached to a vessel which plies the Georgetown to Port Kaituma route. According to Police Prosecutor Bharat Mangru, the defendant asked the captain of the vessel to keep a small black suitcase in his cabin. At 21:30h, acting on information, Mangru said, police officers went to the wharf and discovered the illegal substance in the suitcase that contained a photograph of the accused.

However, Squires’ lawyer, Clyde Forde told the court that his client was given the