Diego man in court for $.25M drugs

A 35-year-old Diego Martin man appeared before a Port-of-Spain magistrate yesterday charged with possession of illicit drugs, arms and ammunition. Appearing in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Court before Magistrate Andrew Stroude was Ricky Singh of Savannah Road, Bagatelle Trace, Diego Martin. Singh was held on Thursday by officers who were patrolling the area near his home. Singh was not represented by counsel. The court heard that Singh was walking on Bagatelle Road on Thursday, when the officers approached and searched him. They found a loaded five-gauge shotgun, five rocks of cocaine and a device used for smoking cocaine in Singh’s possession. He was taken to the West End Police Station and after officers obtained a warrant, a search was conducted at Singh’s house.

Officers found 81.34 kilogrammes of compressed marijuana wrapped in specially designed bags at his house. The street value of the cocaine is estimated at over a quarter of a million dollars. All charges, except the possession of cocaine charge, were laid indictably. Singh pleaded guilty to possession of the device used for smoking cocaine. After the exhibits were shown to the court, Magistrate Stroude told Singh due to the quantity and quality of the items seized, he was not in a position to grant bail. Arresting officer WPC Dianne Walters, told the court tracing had not yet been conducted to determine whether Singh had any previous convictions. Singh will reappear in court on November 2.