A man who admitted to having cannabis in his possession in Union Island on Saturday claimed that he had more drugs than the police charged him for.
Ansel Allen, of Clifton Union Island, appeared before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias at the Serious Offences Court in Kingstown on Monday.
He pleaded guilty to a charge that on May 5 in Union Island he had 28 grammes of cannabis in his possession.
Ordinarily, Allen’s brush with the law would not have aroused the interest of the media, because of the small quantity of the drug.
However, he told the court that the marijuana that the police had presented to the court was not the same as he drugs he had in his possession when he was arrested.
A member of the Rapid Response Unit, who was on foot patrol dressed in plain clothes around 2 a.m., arrested Allen.
The accused man said that on seeing the police officer, he attempted to destroy the marijuana by tearing the paper bag which contained the drug.
He said that the drug fell to the ground and got wet in the process, but the police officer picked up the wet cannabis and put it in his hand.
“I am guilty for being in possession of drugs but what is presented here is not mine. I had more drugs than that. I had a couple more pounds — no bombs,” the man told the court.
A “bomb” of marijuana refers to a small quantity of the drug, usually the quantity used to make a marijuana cigarette, wrapped in a sheet of the paper.
“That is not the drug they arrested me with,” he maintained.
The magistrate noted the exhibit presented in court was several bombs of marijuana.
The arresting officer denied that the drugs presented in court were not what Allen had in his possession.
The magistrate, seemingly amazed by Allen’s claim, commented that the quantity on the charge sheet was not substantial and was less than Allen claimed to have had.
“Thank you very much for charging me for less,” Allen told the officer and told the court that he had mean “bombs” and not “pounds” when he commented earlier.
Allen was ordered to pay the court EC$100 by May 9.
This is a great issue if evidence is being tampered with them we have a problem with the police.
How many times do we hear (off the record, from people “in the know”) about quantities of drugs or money that are presented in court being different than what actually was taken into custody. Strange that the amount in court is always less than what was actually taken. when it is drugs it ends up being less, when it is money it ends up being less…very strange! I wonder why that is? I wonder where it all goes? I wonder if there really is another dimension that it goes to…wow!…aliens!