A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND man who tried to smuggle more than two pounds of ganja to Barbados in small tubes inserted into the chair's tyres, was nabbed by airport police and subsequently charged with breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.
The man, Ranchill Nugent, 25, of Alexander Road, Kingston, admitted guilt when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.
He was fined a total of $32,000 or three months and an additional six months behind bars for charges of possession, dealing and taking steps to export narcotics.
Investigators reveal that on Monday, at approximately 11:45 a.m., Nugent attempted to board a BWIA flight to Barbados.
Foreign matter
However, when his chair was passed through the x-ray machine, authorities picked up the foreign matter and searched it.
They discovered nine tubes of ganja in one wheel and eight, in the other.
The man told the court that he had been disabled for eight years.
Presiding magistrate Martin Gayle lamented that if the justice system did not prevent disabled individuals from using their condition to conduct criminal activity, things would spiral out of control.
"The day you show sympathy for them, you will find more and more people doing these things," he said.
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