A man charged with being in possession of methampheta­mine has been further re­manded in custody after ap­pearing in the High Court in Suva.

Kritesh Kumar is alleged to have been found in pos­session of 1.4 kilograms of methamphetamine in his Valelevu, Nasinu, home on October 31, 2017.

His lawyer, Abhay Singh, informed the court yester­day that he had filed an ap­plication to have the drugs retested to determine the exact amount of metham­phetamine that was alleg­edly found.

He said the lab reports received revealed that the contents of the drugs found tested positive for less than 40 per cent of methampheta­mine.

Mr Singh said if the con­tent of the drugs was less then the magistrates court had jurisdiction to try the case.

He said the weight of the drugs was important as far as the charge was concerned because it would affect the accused’s sentence should he be convicted as charged.

State lawyer Juleen Fatiaki said Fiji’s jurisdiction rec­ognised the quantity of the drugs rather than the purity.

Mr Singh raised the ques­tion as to why his client had to be charged for allegedly being in possession of 1.4 kilograms of illicit drugs when less than 40 per cent of the drugs were metham­phetamine.

He said his client could not be charged for the remain­ing 60 per cent of the sub­stance found.

He has been further re­manded and will appear at a later date.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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