A decision to traffic drugs into the Mazaruni Prison on Tuesday, January 14th did not go as planned for a 21-year-old Prison officer. The young man who hails from an East Coast Demerara Community will spend the next three years behind bars following his guilty plea in Bartica Magistrates’ Court where he appeared before Magistrate Teriq Mohamed today.
According to a statement from the Corporate Communications Unit of the Police Force, the young man, Joel Johnson who returned to duty after four days off was found with 804 grams of cannabis among his belongings during a mandatory search at the entrance of Mazaruni prison.
He was subsequently turned over to ranks at the Bartica Police Station where he was held until being taken to court to answer to a charge of Possession of Narcotics for the Purpose of Trafficking.
Johnson who pleaded guilty was sentenced to three years in prison and fined $30,000.