$8M drug accused blanked bail

Ryan Charles of Maracas, St Joseph was remanded in custody to reappear in court on May 12.

An application for bail by Charles’ lawyer Evans Welch was rejected by Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court. But she advised Charles that he has the right to apply to a judge in chambers for bail.

Charles was charged with two other persons with having in his possession 22.4 kilos of cocaine at Wrightson Road, Woodbrook on April 25. The other two were each granted $350,000 bail last week.

The court prosecutor produced a list of pending cases involving Charles. But the accused denied this, saying that most of the cases were dismissed. The court was unable to verify if that was in fact so.

The prosecutor was unable to provide the information, although the accused admitted that some cases were still outstanding. The magistrate gave the prosecutor until May 12 to provide that information.