CONSTABLE Horace Roberts, attached to the Mandeville Police station in Manchester, has been charged with robbery with aggravation following his arrest on suspicion of being part of a crime ring targeting returning residents.

Roberts was nabbed by the police a week ago, near the airport in Kingston, after the car in which he and three others were travelling was intercepted on the Palisadoes road.

The police confiscated two firearms – a government issued revolver and a licensed 9mm firearm, confirmed as Robert’s personal weapon – from the vehicle, along with a sum of money in US, Canadian, British and Jamaican currency.

Roberts and the other four, one of whom was female, were held at the Half Way Tree police station for identification parades.

According to Sergeant Rovan Salmon, police liaison officer for Manchester, Roberts was the only detainee of the five to be formally charged up to press time, but he remains at the Half Way Tree lock-up.

Salmon said the constable will face a few more identification parades.

“A number of the goods were recovered and have been positively identified by the owners and have been retrieved, and some are being kept as exhibit evidence,” Salmon said.

The recovered goods include watches, smaller household appliances as well as assorted electrical appliances.

Roberts has been charged with robbery with aggravation, based on allegations from victims that a gun had been held to their heads during the commission of the robberies.

“Re the charges made against him – robbery with aggravation – the aggravation is something that puts the victims life at risk because a firearm was involved,” said Salmon.

Salmon did not disclose the identity of the other three detainees, citing the need for discretion in the ongoing investigation.

“It’s a ring, it encompasses a large number of parishes, so slowly but surely we are getting more information . at the same time [we] have to be careful what information is released now because it can also prejudice the identification parade,” he said.