Cop facing narcotics, ammo charges denied bail by High Court

The Demerara High Court on Friday denied bail to a Police Constable, who was arrested in January in connection with the discovery of a motor car loaded with narcotics and ammunition.
Constable Julius Cambridge, 22, was among the three persons nabbed at a roadblock with a large quantity of cocaine and marijuana, and illegal ammunition.
It is alleged that on January 16, at Cove and John, East Coast Demerara (ECD), they had 170 grams of cocaine and 9.4 kilograms of cannabis in their possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Further, it is alleged that on the said date at the same location, they had two .38, two .40, and 11 .9mm rounds of ammunition, when they were not holders of firearm licences.
Besides Cambridge, the other persons charged were Police Constable Albert Beresford, 29, who had been stationed at Clonbrook Police Station; and Sheldon Benjamin, 32, of Vigilance, ECD.
They had pleaded not guilty to the charges at their initial court appearance on January 25 before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Cove and John Magistrate’s Court. They were all denied bail and remanded to prison. In March, however, Beresford changed his not-guilty pleas to guilty.
Cambridge’s petition for bail was refused by a High Court Judge on Friday.
At that hearing, State Prosecutor Simran Gajraj objected to bail, citing that the narcotics and ammunition were found next to Cambridge inside the vehicle.
In his address to the court, Cambridge’s lawyer, Yuborn Allicock, said that even though the illegal items were found next to his client, they do not belong to him.
To make his case, the lawyer pointed out that Benjamin is the car’s owner and that at no point was the narcotics or ammunition found on the person or property of Cambridge.
According to him, several persons being in the vehicle give rise to multiple occupancy.
Allicock said that Beresford has accepted ownership of the narcotics and ammunition and has even reaffirmed that his client, Cambridge, hired him to get to work.
Presiding Judge Sandil Kissoon while alluding to Beresford’s guilty pleas, pointed out that it is a notorious fact that in narcotics matters, the person with the least interest would usually take the rap for the most valuable person in the group.
Justice Kissoon expressed concern about a series of offences being committed from a “single circumstance” with a serving member of the Police Force present before the court.
Though he acknowledged that one is innocent until proven guilty, he said that his disappointment lies with the fact that a member of the Disciplined Services would find himself in these circumstances connected to allegations of this nature.
Justice Kissoon went on to note that Allicock’s argument in relation to multiple occupancy does not give rise to special reasons given that the bag was close to Cambridge.
In refusing the bail application made on Cambridge’s behalf, the Judge said that he found no special reasons as demanded by the Bail Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Act 2022.
At about 2:30h on the day in question, a motor car bearing registration number PAB 7863 pulled up at the roadblock. Benjamin was the driver, with Beresford, and Cambridge, as passengers. However, the Policemen who were conducting the exercise observed that their colleagues in the car were acting suspiciously. As such, they requested to search the car during which one bag containing marijuana and another with cocaine were found.
A further search carried out in the motor car resulted in the discovery of rounds of ammunition.
At the time of his arrest, Cambridge was stationed at the Cane Grove Police Outpost. (G1)