A construction worker who reportedly attempted to ship to Antigua two baking tins containing eight pounds and two ounces of ganja hidden in a false compartment, was offered $250 000 bail when he appeared in court on New Year’s Eve.

The accused, Carlos Brown, 46, of Harbour View in St Andrew, was offered bail by Resident Magistrate Simone Maddix, following a successful bail application by Attorney Christopher Townsend.

Brown was offered bail on charges of possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export ganja. Conditions for his bail stipulate that he reports on Wednesdays and Saturdays to the Harbour View Police Station and surrender his travel documents with a stop order in place.

According to allegations, on December 24, Brown went to Caribbean Airlines Cargo at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston to ship the two baking tins.

The tins were reportedly checked and found to contain a false compartment containing eight pounds and two ounces of ganja.

Brown was arrested and when cautioned reportedly said: “God know me caa believe them gimme this.” On Thursday when the matter was mentioned, Townsend, during his bail application told the magistrate that his client has a good defence, as he had no knowledge that the tins contained drugs. The lawyer said that his client was only doing a favour for his brother whom he was sending the tins to in Antigua.

“Did the tins contain a cake,” a puzzled RM Maddix asked, and was informed that the tins had ganja in a false compartment. “It is somewhat odd to me for someone to be sending baking tins to a place where baking tins are sold, “ she said to the attorney. Townsend, in reply, said the thought had occurred to him but explained that he had dealt with similar cases in which persons tried to export Milo, condensed milk and Dutch pots.

According to Townsend, many people are of the view that overseas products differ in taste when compared to the Jamaican products and prefer to have their own locally made products. The magistrate said that while she could understand his analogy in respect to the food items she could not understand the “Dutch pot analogy”.

Townsend, in an attempt to bring further clarity to his “Dutch pot analogy” said, “There are certain tins that react differently to heat and there are certain tins when you use it to bake it comes out differently,” he said.

The lawyer, in continuing his application, insisted that his client was clueless about the ganja and told the magistrate that he had sent his wife to collect the tins but they were not ready and he later went to retrieve them.

According to Townsend, Brown’s wife could have easily been in his position had she collected the tins.

Furthermore, the lawyer told the magistrate that Brown’s caution statement supported his position that Brown was not aware of the ganja. Brown is scheduled to return to court on January 22.