No bail for man held with $8M coke

Ryan Charles, of Maracas, St Joseph, was advised to apply to a judge in chambers for bail. His application for bail was turned down by Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim presiding in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court.

Charles, Nicholas Sookoo, 27, and his girlfriend Allison Castillo, 24, all of Maracas, St Joseph, were charged with possession of 22.4 kilos of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

They were also charged with possession of an Italian-made Baretta nine-millimetre pistol and three rounds of ammunition. Sookoo and Castillo were also charged with possession of eight grammes of marijuana.

The three were arrested by a joint police-army patrol on Wrightson Road, Woodbrook, on April 25. Sookoo and Castillo were each granted $350,000 bail, but they remain in prison. Attorney Evans Welch made the application for bail, but the court heard that while several charges laid against Charles had been dismissed, several others were pending.