Three Canadians who were held with more than 77 kilograms of hashish were denied bail when they appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.
By Tashieka MairForty-seven-year-old Lennox Rodriguez, his 45-year-old brother, Mark and 31-year-old Muhammad Dooney, pleaded not guilty to charges of possession, dealing and attempting to export ganja.
Attorney-at-law Roy Fairclough told the court that the suitcases in which the contraband was found did not belong to his clients. He further added that not even the items of clothing found in the bag, belonged to the men.
Mr. Fairclough said that when the men were shown the suitcases, they said that they did not belong to them but identified their names on the tags, adding that they did not have the correct addresses for his clients.
The lawyer also requested that $500,000, which was seized from the men, be accessible to them as it is not the subject of any charge before the court.
However, presiding judge, RM Winsome Henry said the allegations were far too serious for bail to be granted at this stage.
The court is still awaiting the forensic report.
It is said that about 4:30 p.m. on December 12, the accused men each checked in three suitcases at the Sangster International Airport.
During luggage checks for an Air Canada flight to Toronto, a sniffer dog alerted the police to the suitcases. The men were summoned to the luggage chute where they identified their suitcases.
The suitcases were searched in their presence and in the lining of Lennox's suitcases were 26 packages of substances resembling hashish weighing 39.8 kilograms. Twelve other packages of a similar substance were found in his brother's suitcases, amounting to 19.8 kilograms, while Dooney had 17.4 kilograms also in 12 packages. They were also held with J$500,000.
