‘Sophisticated’ smuggling
There was a level of sophistication in Jamario Akiel King’s attempt to smuggle marijuana into the island through the post office, a magistrate declared yesterday.
“This is not just a spliff in his back pocket,” said Magistrate Douglas Frederick in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
“This is a degree of complexity for a man who has never been known before. Everyone is wondering how a boy, who is never known before, could get this complex,” the magistrate said.
King, 22, unemployed of St Judes, St George, had just pleaded guilty to possession, trafficking, possession with intent to supply and importing the illegal substance on May 10.
His attorney Romario Straker pleaded with the court to accept that the first-time offender had made a mistake.
In his plea to the court to show leniency, the attorney said: “It serves no great purpose to have him, at his age, rubbing shoulders with seasoned criminals. He has accepted that what he has done is wrong,” Straker submitted, as he begged the court to consider a non-custodial sentence.
“He had hoped to leave on the Canadian Farm Labour programme this year,” the attorney added.
“This is a very complex matter to hide drugs in a muffler. Because to import drugs and to conceal that amount . . . this is not just having a spliff in his pocket,” Magistrate Frederick, however, said.
Magistrate Frederick later ordered a pre-sentencing report on the first-time offender and released King on $3 000 bail with a surety.
King returns to court on July 6.
Prosecutor Sergeant Edwin Pinder, who outlined the facts, said lawmen responded to a report at the General Post Office, where they encountered King.
He was carrying a box which, when checked, was found to contain a motorcycle muffler.
Coming from that muffler was the strong scent of marijuana.
King was taken to the Oistins Police Station, where the muffler was dismantled and found to contain sealed transparent bags of marijuana.
He was asked to account for the drugs and he told police: “Them is mine.” (HLE)