Husband, wife must surrender passports

THE three suspects al-legedly caught in the big Belmont cocaine bust on Saturday night appeared in court yesterday, having been surprisingly granted bail on Sunday. Ronald Singh, 38, a proprietor, his wife Coreen, 41, and nephew Richard, 16, calmly walked into the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court yesterday from the “outside” rather than from a police vehicle. Senior officers of the Organised Crime and Nar-cotics Unit (OCNU) said a junior officer from another division gave the approval on Sunday at the CID office in Port-of-Spain to grant bail to the three suspects.

Although they were arrested at Singh’s home at Belmont Valley Road, Belmont, on Saturday night, the suspects were detained at the CID pending their appearance in court. But OCNU officers turned up yesterday only to hear that the Singhs were granted $150,000 bail each, although the cocaine was valued at $5.8 million. The Singhs appeared in court charged with possession of 14.6 kilos of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. They were not called upon to plead. The court prosecutor, acting Insp Roodal Harrilal informed the court that the police found an Air Express bag containing 14 parcels of cocaine.

He also revealed that a black brief case was found at the Belmont house with a quantity of cash in various denominations. Harrilal said there was a Republic Bank cheque in the amount of $27,877.50. There were also $47,285 in Trinidad and Tobago currency; $1,184 in US currency; 15 pounds sterling; five Bolivars, one Canadian dollar, and EC$185. The prosecutor also reveal-ed that a maroon handbag was also found with more money. That bag, according to Harrilal, also contained US$200 and $21,635 in Trini-dad and Tobago currency. He then revealed that the estimated street value of the 14.6 kilos of cocaine was put at $5,848,000. Attorney Maillard Howell, who represented the three accused, said Singh was the father of two boys ages six and 20. 

He said neither Singh nor his wife had any previous convictions and that his nephew Richard was visiting from Arouca. Howell told Magis-trate Lianne Lee Kim that if she was minded to amend the bail granted, he wanted the court to know that they attended the hearing. He asked that reasonable bail be granted, although he found the $150,000 figure to be reasonable. The magistrate then in-quired whether one person stood bail for all three accused. Howell said yes along with a woman sitting in the public gallery. Lee Kim said she had no problem with the $150,000 bail for the teenager, but said she needed to amend the bail granted to the two adults. Lee Kim increased the bail for Singh and his wife to $250,000 each and ordered that they surrender their passports. The case was then ad-journed to December 2. The teenager walked out of court, but Singh and his wife had to seek fresh bail. However, Singh was unable to raise his bail and he was taken in the prison van at 4 pm. The whereabouts of his wife were unknown.