Two 19-year-old men have been remanded to prison after being charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition without licences and possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking following a police operation at Number One Road, Corentyne, Berbice.

David Ramphal, called “Tampoo”, of Belvedere, Corentyne, and Denesh Naris, called “Alvin”, of Lot 64 Albion Front, Corentyne, appeared before Magistrate Michelle Matthias at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court on Monday.

After the charges were read to both men, they were remanded to prison.

Police said the charges stemmed from an operation conducted at about 10.40 am. Acting on information received, ranks went to Number One Road, where they reportedly observed four men with two motorcycles.

One of the motorcycles bore registration number CS 7869, while the other was unregistered.

During searches, police allegedly found a 12-gauge shotgun and a black haversack containing 18 12-gauge shotgun cartridges.

In addition, ranks reportedly discovered 15 small zip-lock bags containing leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis. The suspected narcotics were weighed and amounted to 25.3 grammes.

The men were arrested and taken into police custody as investigations continued. All four were reported to be 19-year-old residents of Albion, Corentyne, Berbice.

Ramphal and Naris were subsequently charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, contrary to Section 5(1)(a) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, as well as possession of a firearm and ammunition without licences, contrary to Section 16(2)(a) of the Firearms Act, Chapter 16:02.