$700,000 bail for

A GAS STATION proprietress and her son yesterday appeared before a Princes Town magistrate charged with trafficking 1.56 kilogrammes of marijuana. Pearl Sattar, 47, owner of Acme Petrol Station on High Street, Princes Town and her son Shazad, 26, pleaded ‘not-guilty’ before Magistrate Indira Cedeno in the First Police Court.

Both mother and son were arrested on Tuesday night after police allegedly executed a search warrant at their Naparima Mayaro Road, Princes Town home.

In court yesterday, prosecutor Sgt Denzil Alexander told Cedeno that the police officers allegedly found the marijuana in a room in the vicinity of the washing area of the house. Alexander displayed the drugs to the magistrate which were contained in two blacks bags.

In seeking bail for the accused, attorney Anuusha Panday told the magistrate her clients had no previous convictions or pending matters. She said Shazad worked in his mother’s business place. After the prosecutor indicated he had no objection to bail, Cedeno fixed bail in the sum of $350,000 each for Sattar and Shazad. The bail is to be approved by a clerk of the peace. Following further submissions by Panday, Cedeno altered the bail condition from Clerk of the Peace approval to a deposit of $50,000 each. The matter was then adjourned to May 15.