Two police officers attached to specialised units in the Port-of-Spain Division were denied bail and remanded in custody to re-appear in court today, when the appeared in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court on drug and weapons charges.
Constables Stephen Johnson and Toola Jack, of the Inter Agency Task Force and Firearm Interdiction Unit, appeared before Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John, who initially asked arresting officers why the men were not taken to the Siparia court to deal with the substantive matters before being transferred to her jurisdiction for those they had there.
An upset sounding Forde-John said there was no need to take the men to Port-of-Spain only for the matter to be transferred to Siparia. She said she was not granting bail in the matters outside her jurisdiction and dealt with Johnson’s individual charge separately.
Johnson, who was represented by Ian Brooks, was ordered to report to the Besson Street Police Station every Wednesday and Saturday after he was granted bail in a separate matter in Forde-John’s jurisdiction. That offence is alleged to have taken place one day after the duo were arrested in South Oropouche at Johnson’s Sandy Trace, Upper St Barb’s home. It is alleged that he had 10 rounds of ammunition at his home. He was granted $45,000 bail with a cash alternative of $20,000.
The officers are jointly charged with trafficking 54.3 kilogrammes of marijuana with an estimated street value of $733,000. The drugs were allegedly found in four crocus bags in a police vehicle with the two officers and another man. Three illegal guns and an undisclosed amount of ammunition were also found in the car. The men are accused of having the guns and drugs at Dow Village, South Oropouche, on September 19.
Attorneys Brooks and Darryl Worrell did not request that their clients be kept separate from other inmates while on remand, as has been the case with police officers in the past. The officers were the last to be taken to court just after lunch and had the largest support in the courtroom, with both colleagues and relatives filling it. At the end of the sitting, one of Johnson’s colleagues shook his hand as he left the courtroom, although prisoners interacting with those in the public gallery is forbidden.