Two men were arraigned at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on Friday 11 October 2013 on a joint charge of having 8.206 kilograms of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.[1] They were Marlon King, a 41-year-old dredge owner of Roxanne Burnham Gardens, and Carlton Fawsett, a 30-year-old mechanic of Fort Ordnance Housing Scheme, Canje, New Amsterdam.[1] City Magistrate Fabayo Azore refused them bail and adjourned the case to 14 October.[1] Stabroek News reported that both men pleaded not guilty, were remanded to prison and were to appear before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at Court One on 14 October.[2] Stabroek News named the second man Carlos Fausett and gave both men aliases, King as ‘Red Man’ and Fausett as ‘Carro’.[2]

Prosecutor Oswald Massiah told the court that agents of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU), Guyana’s anti-drug agency, stopped the men during a stakeout on Aubrey Barker Road in South Ruimveldt, Georgetown, near the La Familia Hotel.[1] Massiah said King arrived in a car with a suitcase, carried it to a parked car and put it in the open trunk, and that Fawsett then claimed the parked car was his.[1] Stabroek News said officers found 18 packets of leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis in the car and the suitcase, and that both men were cautioned and arrested.[2] King told the court he had been given the suitcase by someone on Sheriff Street and did not know it contained cannabis, and Fawsett denied knowing about it.[1] King’s lawyer Melville Duke told the court that King’s statement was taken under questionable circumstances because he is diabetic and did not receive food and insulin in time, and that his client had no previous convictions.[1]

The owner of the La Familia Hotel was not charged over the find, correcting an earlier report.[1]