Guards, taxi operator on $4 m bail
WESTERN BUREAU — Two security guards and a taxi operator who were arrested and charged in last month’s multi-million dollar robbery in Falmouth were each offered bail in the sum of $4 million with one, two or three sureties, when they appeared in the Falmouth Resident Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
They are Dwight Beckford, 33, of Capital Heights, St James; Fitzroy Hines, 30, of Bounty Hall in Trelawny, and Ovel Brady, a taxi operator of Jericho, Hanover.
The trio is scheduled to return to court on June 25, when their cases will again be mentioned.
The men are all charged with simple larceny and conspiracy while Beckford and Hines have been slapped with additional charges of creating public mischief.
According to police reports, at about 4:30 pm on April 25, Beckford, Hines and another colleague, Conrad Brown were on they way from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay to pick up lodgments on behalf of their company, Securicor.
On reaching a restaurant in Falmouth, Beckford, who was driving the car in which they were travelling, reportedly stopped to use the bathroom.
He reportedly left Brown and Hines in the car.
Brown, who was sitting in the front seat, allegedly pulled his firearm and held up his unarmed colleague.
He later escaped with $17 million of the $20.8 million in the car.
Following reports to the police, Beckford and Hines were taken into custody.
One week later, the police arrested Beckford who they said picked up Brown after the robbery.
They were formally charged on May 5.
Three weeks after the alleged robbery, the police reportedly found $4.1 million of the stolen loot in small buckets, after a search of canefields and farmlands in the Jericho and Georgia districts of Hanover.
In court this week, Resident Magistrate Vivienne Brevere-Hall, who offered the trio bail, requested that their travel documents be surrendered.
The accused men were also required to report on a daily basis to the nearest police station between the hours of 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.
Meanwhile, the police said they are yet to apprehend Brown, whose last known address was Malcolm Heights, Lucea.
The police issued a warrant for his arrest earlier this month.