Drug traffickers sentenced to time in prison

Two men who the High Court ruled were seeking “financial gain” by transporting 474 kilogrammes of marijuana into Barbados on a fishing boat have been sent to prison for the crime.

During a Zoom hearing this morning from the No. 2 Supreme Court Glyne Leroy Carter, of Odessa McClean Drive, My Lord’s Hill, St Michael and Oswald O’Brien Pitt, of Pinder’s Gap, Howell’s Cross Road, St Michael were given a starting sentence of 12 years in prison for possession, trafficking and importing cannabis into Barbados’ territorial waters on April 15, 2016.

However, after Justice Randall Worrell took several factors into consideration including the mitigating and aggravating features of the case, the 1 600 days the convicted drug men had already spent on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison Dodds and their guilty pleas, the two now only have 317 days left to serve on the sentence starting today.

Oswald O’Brien Pitt and Glyne Leroy Carter. (FP)

The facts of the case previously outlined by Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis revealed that on April 15, 2016 coast guard and marine officials spotted a vessel “dead” in the water facing in a southerly direction with two men onboard about ten nautical miles off Carlisle Bay.

When lawmen approached and boarded the vessel, they noticed a strong scent of marijuana

Onboard were also several bulky packages – 21 polythene bags, a taped package and a Ziploc bag all containing vegetable matter. The men and vessel were taken into police custody.

Attorney-at-law Asante Brathwaite represented the guilty men.