Businesswoman on ganja charges has bail extended

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St Andrew businesswoman who was arrested and charged after seven and a half pounds of compressed ganja was reportedly found in two suitcases she was carrying had her bail extended until April 2 when she appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magi-strate's Court on Tuesday.

Fifty-year-old Winsome Broadbert, of a Spanish Town address, is facing charges of possession of, dealing in, and attempting to export ganja.

The allegations are that on November 23, 2014, at approximately 9 a.m., Broadbert was about to board a Caribbean Airlines flight to Kingston from the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay when her luggage was checked in a routine search.

false compartments

Two of her suitcases were found to have false compartments. When opened, the compartments were found to have three packages containing vegetable matter resembling ganja. Broadbert was subsequently arrested and charged.

When the case was mentioned on Tuesday, the court was told that a copy of the forensic certificate had been faxed to the office of the clerk of courts but the original forensic document and the chain-of-custody statement were needed to complete the prosecutions case file.

Resident Magistrate Carolyn Tie subsequently set the case for mention on April 2 and extended Broadbert's bail to that date.

- C.T.