Two out of the four men who were intercepted by the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) at sea back in November of last year yesterday made their first appearance before Magistrate Rabindranauth Singh at the Whim Magistrate’s Court and were sentenced to 40 months each after both pled guilty.
Forty-four-year-old Adrian Hetmyer and Daniel Persaud, 20, both of Sheet Anchor, Berbice were charged with having in their possession 106 Kilograms (Kg) of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking on November 6th 2022 along the coast of No. 47 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. According to CANU, both Hetmyer and Persaud pleaded guilty to the joint charge and were sentenced to 40 months each behind bars and fined $63.4 Million each.
In a release last year, CANU said that their officers along with support from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard intercepted two vessels which were suspected of transporting narcotics along the Corentyne coastal area. A search carried on the two vessels led to the discovery of one shotgun, a quantity of ammunition on one vessel as well as suspected cannabis on both vessels. CANU also said that the first vessel which was intercepted was carrying Hetmyer and Persaud while the second vessel was transporting two Surinamese, 41-year-old Suren Mohan and Imami Fizal, 48.
The four men along with the narcotics were escorted to CANU’s headquarters and weighed. The narcotics on the first vessel which Hetmyer and Persaud were on tested positive for cannabis and weighed 105.8Kgs while the second vessel’s narcotics weighed 11.2kg. The total weight of the cannabis was 117.2 kgs and had a street value of $14.3 million.
