By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
TWO Jamaican men were arraigned on several drug-related charges yesterday in connection with last week’s seizure of over $600,000 worth of marijuana that was found in Inagua.
Nerhu James, 34, and Devon Richards, 50, appeared before Magistrate Samuel Mckinney yesterday after they were allegedly found with 611 pounds of suspected marijuana in Inagua on December 24.
According to initial police reports, around 4.30pm that day, officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit and the United States Coast Guard — who were in the area of Great Inagua on routine air patrols — observed a speed boat beached on the northern shoreline of Great Inagua.
The officers became suspicious when they noticed two men standing near the boat and as a result, they approached them.
Upon arrival at the boat, one of the officers noticed a number of packages a short distance away from the men in low bushes.
Police searched the area and found 34 large packages, some of them wrapped in black plastic and the others in white bags.
A field sampling of the content of some of the packages revealed a grassy substance, suspected to be marijuana. Police said the drugs have an estimated street value of $611,000.
During yesterday’s hearing, the men pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to supply, possession of marijuana with the intent to supply, conspiracy to import dangerous drugs, and importing a quantity of marijuana into the country.
After recording the accused’s not guilty pleas, Magistrate McKinney adjourned the case to February 22, 2022 for trial. However, the two men are scheduled to appear before court on January 14, 2022 for a bail hearing.
They were remanded to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services in the interim.
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