Policeman to be charged in Ranko Gang case

One of the policemen said to be linked to the Clarendon-based Ranko Gang is expected to be charged today.

Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Jeremy Taylor disclosed today that a ruling for the cop to be charged was delivered this morning to police's Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Division (CTOC). 

The disclosure was made in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court when the matter was mentioned before Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montague.

Attorney-at-law Richard Lynch made a habeas corpus application last Thursday arguing that his client has been in custody since March 25 without being charged.  

However, he was then informed that the police were awaiting a ruling from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

When the matter returned to court yesterday, he was informed that the ruling was expected by midday.

Hence, the matter was set for today for the court to be updated on whether the ruling was handed down. 

The detained policeman was among four members of the constabulary force who were arrested in March after they were identified as alleged members of the 27-member gang reportedly led by Constable Tafari Silvera.  

It was reported that eight policemen are in the gang and that one of them fled the island when Silvera was arrested last June. 

Another policeman had also turned himself in after the police named him as one of the alleged members.

However, one of the policemen who were arrested in March was released after two complainants who had reported that he had robbed them refused to participate in his identification parade. 

Silvera and two civilians, Christopher Robinson and Mark Bennett, are all currently before the Home Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to murder. 

They were arrested in relation to a plot to kill an alleged member of the gang, who was accused of being a police informer.  

The Ranko Gang, which has been linked to 17 incidents, is alleged to have carried out shootings, burglary, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of a firearm, shop-breaking, conspiracy to murder and abductions in Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth, St Catherine, St Mary, Trelawny, Kingston, St Andrew, and St James between 2019 and 2021.  

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