Berbice man jailed 2.5 years, fined $3.5M over 41.79 kg ganja bust
CANU officers found 22 parcels of cannabis, about 41.79 kg, when they searched Paul Lewis's home at No. 30 Village, West Coast Berbice, in June 2023 and arrested him. In February 2024 the Fort Wellington Magistrate's Court jailed him for two years and six months and fined him $3.5 million, though the sentencing report puts the drug at 3.954 kg.
🇬🇾 Fort Wellington Magistrate's Court, Fort Wellington, West Coast Berbice · Guyana
Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit officers searched Paul Lewis’s home at No. 30
Village, West Coast Berbice, on Wednesday 7 June 2023 and found 22 parcels of
cannabis.[1]Lewis, 44, was arrested and taken to CANU headquarters with the
parcels.[1]The narcotics tested positive for cannabis and weighed about 41.79
kg (92.13 lb), which CANU valued at about $12.5 million.[2]
On Thursday 29 February 2024 Magistrate Peter Hugh found Lewis guilty at the
Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.[3]The court jailed him for two years and
six months and fined him $3.5 million.[3]Guyana Times reported that the
conviction concerned possession of 3.954 kilograms of ganja, far less than the
41.79 kg CANU announced, and did not explain the difference.[3]
Photos and video
Photo published with the report of the CANU find at the No. 30 Village house, presented as the cannabis seized in the case. Photo: News Room GuyanaPhoto details
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Source: News Room Guyana'The ganja that was found back in 2023', published with the sentencing report. Photo: Guyana TimesPhoto details
Guyana Times says Lewis was jailed 'on Thursday' and the article is dated 1 March 2024; 29 February 2024 was a Thursday, so that date is used for the sentencing.
The sentencing report gives the drug he was convicted of possessing as 3.954 kilograms, while CANU announced 41.79 kilograms after the June 2023 operation; the difference is not explained and only the announced weight is recorded as seized.
No court record or prosecutor's statement was opened, and the report does not say how Lewis pleaded.
The June 2023 accounts do not give the exact address within No. 30 Village or the time of the search.
No figure for plants was reported, and no growing site was linked to the parcels.
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.
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.
Guyana police arrested three Venezuelans at Arakaka on 20 October 2023 after finding three pistols, ammunition, 64.7 grams of marijuana and cocaine in a house search. One man pleaded guilty and was jailed for three years for marijuana trafficking plus further terms for cocaine and weapons, while the other two denied the charges.
