A Warwick man caught with more than $170,000 of cannabis was jailed for two years yesterday.Luri Scott, 25, pleaded guilty to three counts of handling drugs with intent to supply and one charge of possession of drug equipment.Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of three to five years, but Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons said the figure was “a little too high” given the facts of the case.But she also disagreed with a suggestion by Marc Daniels, Scott’s lawyer, that a suspended sentence would be appropriate because he only held the drugs for others.Ms Simmons said: “This is an ordinary case of handling. He would have given the drugs back to the owner, no doubt for subsequent sale, if the police had not intervened.”The Supreme Court heard that officers raided Scott’s home on December 15, 2017.They found more than 3,400 grams of cannabis, as well as 3.9 grams of cannabis resin and 14ml of liquid that contained tetrahydrocannabinol — the active ingredient in cannabis.Police also discovered scales and sandwich bags, which they alleged were used in the sale of drugs, along with $6,550 in cash.Cindy Clarke, the Deputy Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions, told the court that some of the cash was discovered by a drug-sniffing dog, which suggested the money and the drugs were linked. She said the cannabis could fetch up to $171,350 if sold on the streets, the cannabis resin was worth $375 and tetrahydrocannabinol could be sold for $500. Mr Daniels told the court Scott was not a drug dealer, but had agreed to allow the drugs to be stored at his home in exchange for “free smoke”.He added that the bulk of the money seized belonged to Scott’s girlfriend and had nothing to do with drugs.Ms Simmons said she would take into account Scott’s clean record and his relatively early guilty plea to the offences, but that an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate because of the amount of drugs involved.She sentenced Scott to two years in prison for the cannabis, six months for the cannabis resin, six months for tetrahydrocannabinol and six months for the drug equipment.Ms Simmons ordered that all sentences run concurrently with time already served taken into account.She added that Scott could apply for early release if he completed a drug treatment programme while in jail.That sentence will be followed by two years of probation.Ms Simmons also refused a prosecution request for the cash seized from Scott’s home to be forfeited. She said the Crown was not able to dispute Scott’s claim that $5,800 of the cash belonged to his girlfriend or that he had earned the rest of the money legally.• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.