Former boxing champ Howard Eastman pleads not guilty to narcotics trafficking

Howard Eastman, the Former British, Commonwealth and European middleweight champion, was yesterday remanded to prison, after he was charged with trafficking in narcotics.

Eastman, known in the ring as ‘The Battersea Bomber,’ was denied bail  by Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo after he pleaded not guilty to the charge at the New Amsterdam Court.

It is alleged that police, acting on information, went to Eastman’s home at Canefield Settlement, East Canje Berbice, on Saturday. Further, it is alleged that on his veranda, they found a black plastic bag, which contained leaves, seeds and stems of the prohibited plant, cannabis sativa. The drug weighed 100 grammes.

The boxer was arrested and taken Reliance Police Station, where charges were instituted.

He will make another court appearance on April 30.

Meanwhile, another man, Steven Richmond, was charged with being in possession of 150 grammes of marijuana.

Richmond, of Helena Number Two Mahaica, was found at De Hoop, about 35 miles up the Berbice River with 5,000 ganja plants. A charge of cultivating prohibited plants was instituted by ranks at Central Police Station.

Richmond denied the charges when he appeared before Magistrate Nagamootoo and he was remanded to prison until April 30.

Ranks from New Amsterdam had travelled to the Berbice River community last Saturday where they allegedly nabbed Richmond in the field, attending to the illegal cultivation.

Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/stories/04/13/ex-champ-eastman-pleads-not-guilty-to-narcotics-trafficking/