Man caught with $79M worth of ganja jailed for 50 months, fined $215M
One of the three men who were arrested Saturday following the discovery of 1,580 pounds of marijuana worth $79M, was on Monday, sentenced to 50 months in prison, after pleading guilty to a drug trafficking charge.
Those charged are Massiah Durant, 52, Shawn Lindie Snr, 44, and his son, Shawn Lindie Jnr, 29. They all appeared before Magistrate Wanda Fortune at the Linden Magistrate’s Court where the joint charge was read to them.
It is alleged that on March 26, at De Veldt along the upper Berbice River, they had 717 kilogrammes of marijuana in their possession for the purpose of trafficking. Durant pleaded guilty to the charge while his two co-accused pleaded not guilty.
Magistrate Fortune, after accepting Durant’s guilty plea and the prosecution’s facts, sentenced him to 50 months in jail together with a fine of $215,100,000. Meanwhile, Shawn Lindie and his son were each granted $2M bail.
A special team from the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) along with officers from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF)- Coast Guard conducted a joint operation at De Veldt along the upper Berbice River on the day in question.
During this operation, the officers searched a building that was occupied by several individuals including minors. It was during the search that the parcels of cannabis Sativa were unearthed which led to the arrest of the trio.
The men were then escorted to CANU’s Headquarters where the drugs were weighed in their presence and amounted to 717 kilogrammes which is equivalent to 1,580 pounds. According to CANU, the cannabis seized is believed to have been intended for transhipment to another territory.
