WESTERN BUREAU

An Aruban who attempted to smuggle more than seven pounds of ganja out of Jamaica for personal use, will have to serve three months jail time before going home to his family.

Derwin Koch, 23, was sentenced before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Thursday, after pleading guilty to possession, dealing and attempting to export ganja.

Koch was arrested on November 25 as he attempted to board an Air Jamaica flight to Curacao. The contraband, weighing 7.5 lb, was recovered from a false compartment in his suitcase, in four packages.

The convicted man told the court, via a probation officer, that he met Rastafarians in Negril, Westmoreland, who convinced him that it was easy to take back ganja to his country for his personal use.

Koch asked to be returned home even if it meant being deported so he could see his ailing grandmother before she died. However, RM Winsome Henry told him that she had to give him a custodial sentence based on the quantity of ganja he had.

He was fined $50,000 for attempting to export the drug and will serve an additional three months in custody.