Surinamese man jailed 3 years over 101.5 g hashish in Berbice
CANU officers intercepted Surinamese national Virjanand Narain at Eliza Mary, Corriverton, on 3 June 2023 and seized 101.5 grammes of hashish alongside ecstasy. He pleaded guilty to possession for the purpose of trafficking and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment with a GY $688,350 fine.
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit officers intercepted Surinamese national Virjanand
Narain during an operation at Eliza Mary, Corriverton, Berbice, on 3 June 2023.[1]Narain was arrested and escorted with the suspected narcotics to CANU
headquarters in Berbice, where they were weighed and tested.[1]
Hash is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant.[2]The seized drugs comprised 101.5 grammes of hashish alongside ecstasy, and
both substances tested positive.[3]He answered a charge of possession of a
narcotic for the purpose of trafficking involving 101.5 grammes of hashish
described as cannabis resin.[4]
Narain appeared before the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court on 5 June 2023.[5]He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with a fine of
GY $688,350.[4]
Photos and video
Virjanand Narain and the seized narcotics. Photo: CANU via News Room GuyanaPhoto details
The seizure accounts give 69.9 grammes of ecstasy while the charge and sentence accounts give 66.9 grammes; the hashish figure of 101.5 grammes is consistent, and only it is recorded as cannabis.
CANU spells the magistrate's first name Ranita while Stabroek News spells it Renita.
The submitted News Room account rounds the weights to 69 grammes and 101 grammes; the precise figures of 69.9 and 101.5 grammes from CANU and other outlets are used.
No street value for the seized drugs was published.
Timothy Mc Garrell, 24, pleaded guilty at the Vigilance Magistrate's Court on 18 February 2026 to introducing cannabis into the Lusignan Prison hidden under his slipper soles. Senior Magistrate Sunil Scarce sentenced him to three years in prison and fined him $30,000.
Shemroy Robertson, known as “Minutes”, was found guilty of aiding cannabis trafficking and sentenced to two years in prison with a $30,000 fine at Vigilance Magistrates’ Court. The case stemmed from a June 2021 CANU operation in which 1.174 kg of cannabis was seized from a minibus at Ann’s Grove.
Arrested 2Sentenced 1Cannabis 1.174 kgPrison 2 years
Nishart Samsundar, 20, was jailed for four years and fined G$1,778,400 on 31 January 2024 after pleading guilty to trafficking and cultivation following a CANU raid on a cannabis farm at Hauraruni Village.
Arrested 2Plants destroyed 5,200Cannabis 1.976 kgPrison 4 years
Latchman Sankar, 39, was sentenced to four years in prison and fined G$49.6 million on 18 January 2024 after admitting possession of more than 55 kg of cannabis. CANU officers had arrested him with Sanya Ramrattan three days earlier at Hubu Parika, seizing 102 parcels valued at about G$20 million.
