Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is questioning what she says is a lenient fine for marijuana cultivation and possession of a high powered rifle.

21-year-old Saleem Villaruel and 42-year-old Azizi Williams were fined $10,000 after they were caught tending to a field with marijuana plants valued at just under $3.3 million.

Mrs Persad-Bissessar believes the fine should at least be proportionate to the dollar value of the marijuana.

She also believes the fine is “an insult to the hardworking police officers who trekked 12 kilometers into the forest to apprehend these criminals as well as to a population besieged by violent crime fueled by illegal drug trafficking.”

The Opposition Leader wants the Master of the High Court that handed down the fine to be called upon by the relevant authorities to properly account for the sentence.

She also believes the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief Justice, and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission should immediately undertake separate independent investigations into the “scandalously light fine”.