Teenager given suspended sentence for cannabis importation

Tuesday 11 May 2021

A 19-year-old has narrowly avoided a spell in youth detention after pleading guilty to two possession charges and the importation of cannabis.

Police officers picked up Nadir Mohamed during proactive checks around the island. After smelling cannabis in a car they’d stopped, Mohamed was searched.

It was 21:45 on 18 October 2019, a few days after Mohamed’s 18^th birthday. He was in a car park, by a bunker in Castel, with a group of other people.

Officers saw Mohamed fumbling with a plastic container, which was seized. Upon inspection, 3.64g of cannabis and 2.26g of cannabis resin were found inside.

Pictured: Mohamed was sentenced in the Royal Court by Judge Russell Finch.

After officers searched his home address, four packets were found that smelled strongly of cannabis, one of which had residual crumbs at the bottom.

Mohamed's phone was seized, and specialist officers found evidence on it - and through his bank statements - suggesting that Mohamed had been in contact with a supplier via a SnapChat account. 

Mohamed said he’d only ever bought cannabis paraphernalia from the dealer; but had also facilitated a friend buying 14g of cannabis. Proof of this was found after further investigation by the police.

He originally pleaded guilty to the possession charges but not guilty to the importation charge. He argued that he was only the middleman for a friend.

After consideration from all parties, it was agreed that this would not make any difference when sentencing and Mohamed changed his plea before trial on 14 April.

Pictured: Judge Finch said the person behind the SnapChat account was clearly a drug dealer. 

Advocate Sam Steel said Mohamed had been brought to the island at 16 and suffered socially.

He met a group of people who made him feel like he fit in somewhere, however this group were cannabis smokers. It was a regrettable decision to get involved with them, said Advocate Steel, but the alternative was to have no social group. 

The Defence Advocate said it was “only fair that we look at this in context”, when referring to Mohamed’s actions. The Royal Court decided against imposing an immediate custodial sentence, offering Mohamed the chance to learn his lesson. 

“You could have quite easily gone down those steps and served 18 months today,” said Judge Finch during sentencing.

Mohamed was given a one-year suspended sentence for the importation of cannabis and two seven-week suspended sentences - to run concurrently - for the possession charges. All were suspended for two years.

Judge Finch made it clear that Mohamed would only get one chance: “If you come back to court, Les Nicolles will come up for you in the prize draw.”