Prison officer remanded on ganja charge

Mar 10, 2009 News

An officer attached at the Georgetown Prison will have a long time with the people he once supervised before he makes his next court appearance.

When he appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton, yesterday, he learnt that he will have to remain in prison until June 2.

Ronaldo Bourne was allegedly held with 49 grams of cannabis in the prisons on Saturday.

He was charged with drug possession for the sole purpose of trafficking.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and was unrepresented.

According to Police Prosecutor, Desiree Fowler bail should be denied until a date for trial has been set. She was granted the application by the magistrate.

The prison officer had been allegedly under scrutiny for corruption at the Mazaruni Prison. He was caught on Saturday last attempting to smuggle marijuana into the Camp Street jail.

According to reports the prison officer was found with about four packets of ganja after a search was conducted at the front gate.

A source had told Kaieteur News that the rank also had four packets of cigarettes in his possession.

Investigators are of the belief that the prison officer was smuggling the prohibited items for a prisoner.

The incident appears to further confirm the alleged existence of a clique of corrupt prison officers, who collude with inmates in smuggling drugs and other prohibited items into the country’s main penitentiary.

Earlier in the year, a lay pastor was charged after allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs into the prison.