St Joseph man admits to drugs charges

It took a St Joseph man over a decade to accept responsibility for a number of drug offences after he was caught with the illicit substance within Barbados’ territorial waters.

Shurland Nathaniel Holder, alias Mickey from Bathsheba, threw in the towel when he appeared in the No. 2 Supreme Court before Justice Christopher Birch this morning.

He pleaded guilty to importation, trafficking and possession of 75 kilogrammes of cannabis on October 11, 2004. He also admitted to possession and trafficking of 392.5 kilogrammes of cannabis on May 21, 2008.

On the 2004 charges Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale said Coast Guard and other officials were on patrol when they discovered a vessel off Payne’s Bay. On seeing the law enforcement officials the vessel fled but eventually stopped. Five polythene bags were found. Holder identified himself as the captain of the vessel and he was  arrested and taken into custody.

Giving the facts on the 2008 charges, Seale revealed that lawmen were conducting operations when they ventured to Glenburnie, St John. They observed a number of bags on the shore and saw a group of men who quickly ran away on seeing the police. A boat in the area went out to sea.

Investigations took officers to Tent Bay where they carried out surveillance and observed Holder near the water. He tried to flee but was arrested. He told police that the two parcels he was carrying was his payment and that he was also the one who manoeuvred the vessel back to sea from Glenburnie.

In a written statement Holder told police he met with another man who he calls Fire who told him that he had some marijuana in St Vincent. He said the man asked him to go to the neighbouring island and “bring it up and I tell he alright.”

Holder told lawmen Fire gave him the keys to his boat and “I push off” about 5:30 a.m. on May 20, 2008. “I had a Bajan man with me that I don’t know he name and a Vincy man and I went down to St Vincent.”

According to the statement read by Seale the convicted man said he left the Vincy in his country. “The boat get load up wid the marijuana and me and the Bajan start for home.”

During the voyage he called Fire who told him to take the drugs to Glenburnie, St John. When they got there he saw Fire and a number of men. Subsequently he heard “explosions” and said to himself ‘the police must be around’. “So I move with the boat and bring it at Tent Bay,” he said in the statement.

“I waited there in the sea until I thought everything was quiet . . . then I swim to shore with a package that I had for myself. When I did shifting from the area the police hold me . . . with the package of marijuana”.

Following those facts the matters against the fisherman, who is in his late 50s, were adjourned until January 31.