Five men implicated in the almost $12-billion cocaine bust remanded
Published:Wednesday | August 21, 2024 | 12:40 PM
The five men, including a 72-year-old, who are implicated in the almost $12-billion cocaine bust in Havendale, St Andrew, were remanded for medical examination when they appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Wednesday morning.
Parish Judge Maxine Ellis ordered that all the accused men are to be taken to see the doctor "as soon as possible" after a lawyer for two of the accused made the request.
One of the men, 42-year-old Clayton Peart, indicated that he did not need to see the doctor, but the judge insisted that all of them must be examined.
The accused are Kingston residents Clive Davis, 57; Junior Haldane, 72; George Sterling; Collin Ricketts, 58, and Peart. They were accosted during the raid at Riverside Drive in Havendale.
They are each charged with possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, trafficking cocaine and conspiracy.
The men are to return to court on October 9.
The case was rescheduled for mention to facilitate the completion of the testing of the substance. The court heard that the laboratory has done a third of the testing.
The accused were busted on August 6 when officers from Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division (FNID) accompanied by units from the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) raided the premises and seized several knitted bags of cocaine.
Approximately 2,600 kilograms or 5,569 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of US$75.79 million, were found at the house during a three-hour operation.
Two motor vehicles were also seized.
Attorney-at-law Donahue Martin is representing Ricketts, while Lloyd McFarlane is representing Haldane and Ludlow Black is representing Sterling.
Attorneys-at-law Kayon Atkinson and Tamika Dunbar are appearing for Peart while King's Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson is defending Davis.
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