PORT ANTONIO, Portland — The nine men who were held by the narcotics police in Portland two weeks ago and charged with attempting to export 828 kilogrammes of ganja were each offered $5 million bail when they appeared in the Buff Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court last Wednesday afternoon.

Portland Resident Magistrate, Bethram Morrison, ordered that they all surrender their travel documents, be fingerprinted and report to the nearest police station in their community between the hours of 9:00 am and 9:00 pm on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and to reappear in the Port Antonio RM Court on Tuesday, February 19.

The nine men are Keith Oslin, 47, of Dolphin Bay, Portland; Leonard Binns, 29, and Ian Staple, 33, both of Junction, St Elizabeth; Ashman Dixon, 37, of Brown’s Town, St Ann; Ralph Bruce, 30 of Whitehall, St Elizabeth; Mark Lynch, 41, of Drapers, Portland; Ricardo Chin Yee, 33, of Wayne Close, Kingston; David Ormsby, 25, of Grosvenor Terrace in Kingston; and Khani Coleman, 30, of Paradise, Montego Bay.

In addition to the ganja seized, the narcotics police also confiscated two Toyota Corolla motorcars, a 25-foot speed boat named Blue Dolphin, six drums of petrol and two 250HP engines in the raid.

All the men, except Coleman, had their lawyers present in court.

Oslin’s attorney told the court that based on the statement given to the court, her client was not found with anything by the police.

“He saw the police coming on his premises with a package,” the lawyer said.

Leon Palmer, who represented Binns and Staple, said his clients “were not held with any vegetable matter, as the parcels were found on the beach.”

Attorney Earnest Davis, who appeared for Dixon, said his client was on the Oslin premises seeking work. Oslin, the lawyer said, was not there when the police drove in and arrested Dixon.

Davis also told the court that another of his clients, Bruce, went to the premises to ask about the sale of a truck.

Lynch told the court that he was in Free School Hill in Port Antonio, far away from the scene, when the police took him in.

Chin Yee was represented by Peter Champagne who told the court his client was merely present at Oslin’s house.

Coleman, will be represented by Clyde Williams. But one of the lawyers who spoke for him said Coleman was apprehended by the police in Port Antonio while he was delivering a taxi.

The court was told that the narcotics police carried out an operation on Tuesday, January 15 between the hours of 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm at the premises of Keith Oslin in Dolphin Bay, Portland.

According to the police, they watched packets wrapped in tape being loaded onto a pick-up truck and removed to the Dolphin Bay beach. The unloading of the pick-up was observed by the police.

The court also heard that the police team in Port Antonio received word when the Blue Dolphin was leaving Portmore for Port Antonio. When the boat arrived, five persons were seen leaving the boat.

One of the investigating officers told the court that Coleman and Lynch were observed loading gasoline onto the boat at the Port Antonio Marina.