Five accused in multibillion-dollar cocaine matter may get trial date on Tuesday
Published:Saturday | May 3, 2025 | 12:08 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A trial date is to be scheduled next Tuesday in the multibillion-dollar cocaine case in which five men have been implicated.
A date for a bail hearing in the Home Circuit Court for three of the accused, who were yesterday remanded, will also be scheduled.
Junior Haldane, 72, and Aubrey Sterling were offered bail in December while Clive Davis, 57; Collin Ricketts, 58; and Clayton Peart, 42, were denied bail.
The defendants who were arrested last August following the $12-billion drug bust in Havendale, St Andrew, are charged with possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, trafficking cocaine and conspiracy.
During the case management hearing on Friday, the court was told that the case file was completed.
The defendants were arrested on August 6, 2024, when officers from the police’s Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division, accompanied by units from the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch, raided the premises and seized several knitted bags containing cocaine.
Approximately 2,600 kilograms, or 5,569lb, of the drug, with a street value of US$75.79 million, was allegedly found during a three-hour operation.
The police were reportedly acting on information when they went to the premises as the men were allegedly in the process of loading a bus with the bags of cocaine.
Haldane and Sterling were reportedly seen behind the bus and accosted after they ran.
However, during last month’s bail application, lawyers for the two men denied their involvement.
Haldane’s lawyer, Lloyd McFarlane, submitted that his client had no knowledge of the drug and that his position close to the bus was not sufficient to ground the charge of drug possession. The lawyer also indicated that his client had medical issues and that there were concerns about his health.
Attorney-at-law Ludlow Black, for his part, told the court that Sterling, who is a taxi driver, had merely gone to the premises to do a drop-off when the police came and saw him.
Attorney-at-law Donahue Martin is representing Davis.
King’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson and Carole Phillips are representing Ricketts.
Attorney-at-law Tamika Dunbar is appearing for Peart.