TWO cops attached to the Hunts Bay police station, accused of extorting money from a businessman, were each granted bail of $800,000 yesterday when they appeared in the Half Way Tree criminal court.

Constables Christopher Burton and Andrew Freeman were also required to surrender their travel documents, and report to the Hunts Bay police station everyday, between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm, until January 18, when their case returns to court.

According to court records, the two policemen are alleged to have told the businessman that they had been hired to kill him, but that they were willing to spare his life if he paid them off.

It is further alleged that in April, a group of officers, Freeman and Burton among them, took the businessman from his office to Caymanas Park, St Catherine, where he was told that $150,000 could save his life. He paid.

Burton is alleged to have contacted the businessman again in May, asking for another $150,000. The businessman also paid over the additional sum.

Some time later Freeman contacted the businessman again, issuing the same threat. After agreeing to pay a sum of $60,000, the businessman is alleged to have paid Freeman only $50,000, promising to pay the rest at a later date at a Seventh Day Adventist church located in the Hunts Bay Area.

The businessman reported Freeman’s alleged threats to the police, and a sting operation was set up.

A sergeant from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Operations Branch allegedly witnessed the constable accepting $10,000 from the businessman.

Freeman was arrested on the spot, and Constable Burton was held later based on the businessman’s statement to the police.