A man who was caught selling drugs on Sunday has been sentenced to jail.
Harris Satini was handed a four-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of one count of possession of an illicit drug and one count of possession of utensils.
His co-accused, Saia Tufui, was also found guilty of one count of Possession of an illicit drug. He was convicted and
sentenced to one month imprisonment. However, Justice Petunia Tupou suspended his sentence for a period of 12 months on conditions.
Court document shows that on Sunday 27 August, 2023 at around 8pm, information was received by the police that Harris was selling drugs in Vaini.
He was using two vehicles, that is, his own white land rover and a red car owned by one Afu.
The police acted on the information and dispatched to Vaini. At Afu‟ ‘s residence, they encountered Harris attempting to reverse out of that home in Afu‟ ‘s red car.
He was immediately detained by police.
Harris had a red bag strapped around his waist at the time. Inside the bag was one large pack containing a white substance that was weighed at 10.64g and tested positive for methamphetamine.
A body search of him uncovered in his left trouser pocket two packs of a plant substance which tested positive for cannabis and eight fifty dollar bills. In his right trouser pocket was found one smoking pipe and one lighter, plus four twenty seniti and 1 ten seniti.
A search of the vehicle he was in when the police arrived uncovered one smoking pipe between the front seats. During the search of his own vehicle with licence plate L-
21913, the police found one large-sized pack containing shreds of plant material and a $20 bill in the compartment beside the steering wheel. In the compartment in between the front seats was 1 silver weighing scale; beneath the hand brakes were 31 empty packs and in the back pouch of the front passenger seat were two smoking pipes.
The total weight of the cannabis found in the possession of Harris was 8.40g.
The utensils found in his possession were; one weighing scale, two smoking pipes, one straw and 38 empty packs.
A search of his home, which had been swept and cleaned by Saia, did not locate any offending material.
The police found Saia at Harris‟ ‘s house. Nothing was found on Tufui after a body search.
However, inside the cover of his phone was plant material weighing 0.15g and tested positive for cannabis.
When he was asked about the plant material by the police, he admitted it was his “pongo”.
