Businessman in Coral Gardens cocaine seizure to be tried October 6

WESTERN BUREAU:

Oral Johnson, the businessman who was reportedly held with more than 19 pounds of cocaine by the police during an operation in Coral Gardens, St James, on April 26, is set to stand trial in the St James Parish Court on October 6.

Johnson, a 45-year-old restaurant and bar operator of a Westmoreland address, got the trial date and had his $1.5-million bail extended when his case was mentioned in court on Thursday.

The defendant, who is charged with possession, dealing, taking steps to export, and trafficking of 19 pounds 10.98 ounces of cocaine, had been absent from the last court sitting on May 11, when the matter was mentioned before Parish Judge Sasha Ashley.

He and other prisoners in custody had not been transported to court at that time because of an islandwide strike by staff at the National Water Commission, which resulted in water lock-offs in several areas.

Johnson is being represented by attorney-at-law Martyn Thomas.

The allegations against Johnson are that on April 26, he was seen in his parked motor vehicle in Coral Gardens area for approximately 20 minutes. When he was accosted by the police, he reportedly gave conflicting explanations as to why he was in the area, first claiming that he was looking for a friend, and later, that he had come to collect money from a woman to whom he had sold fish.

FORMALLY CHARGED

The vehicle was subsequently searched and nine packages with cocaine were found. Johnson was formally charged on May 3.

He was arrested and taken into custody during the same police operation which led to the seizure of US$3.8 million and CAD $30,000 – valued in local currency at a combined $600 million – at a three-storey house in Coral Gardens.

A woman was also arrested in Westmoreland in connection with both seizures. The police subsequently named Presley ‘Pressa’ Bingham, of Torado Drive in St James, as a person of interest in those investigations.

In the aftermath of the Coral Gardens operation, Assistant Commissioner of Police Clifford Chambers indicated that the investigations would extend to other jurisdictions beyond Jamaica’s borders. However, he did not state which other jurisdictions might become involved in the probe.

Chambers revealed that the United States had previously sent out an extradition request in 2005 for the owner of the house where the money was found.