Justice Pamela Beckles sentenced Guyanese national Collis Arlington Paul to 12 years’ imprisonment for trafficking 1.29 kilogrammes of cannabis and 607.81 grammes of cocaine within Barbados’ territorial waters, and to 10 years for possession and importation of the drugs, all committed on 28 March 2021, with the sentences to run concurrently.[1]

Paul and three other men had been intercepted by the Coast Guard in a vessel within Barbados’ territorial waters, 20 nautical miles off South Point; the vessel held 22 bags containing 343 packages of cannabis and cocaine.[1] During his interview, Paul admitted the drugs were his and said his purpose was to deliver them to a friend in Trinidad named “Snoopy.”[1]

Weighing his guilty plea, the mitigating factors and the more than five years he spent on remand at HMP Dodds, the judge imposed a sentence of time served.[1] Paul had already spent 1,911 days in custody for these offences, and the judge ordered his release to the custody of the Immigration Department for deportation.[1]