The two men, who yesterday appeared in court jointly charged with five others accused of stealing from Republic Bank Ltd, were each granted $500,000 bail by Sangre Grande magistrate Ejenny Espinet. Jagdesh Ramnarine, 33, and Clyde Cox, 48, both of Calcutta, Freeport, are charged with breaking and entering into the bank’s Sangre Grande branch on March 1 and stealing over $4 million in local and foreign currency. Five other men — Chaitram Mohammed, 27, of Vega de Oropouche, Toco Road, Sangre Grande; Navin Juteram, 34, of Mohammed Drive, Sangre Grande; Jason Villafana, 41, of Guaico Village, Sangre Grande; Kumar Narine, 21, of Freeport and Sateesh Boodram, 33, of East Dinsley Gardens, Trincity—are also charged with offences arising out of the same incident.
The five men were granted a total of $5.4 million when they first appeared in court on Tuesday but after Espinet reviewed their criminal records she reduced their bail by almost half. Juteram’s bail was reduced to $500,000 from $1 million; Mohammed’s to $650,000 from $1.3 million; Narine’s to $600,000; Villafana to $500,000 and Boodram to $500,000. All seven men are to re-appear on April 10. Juteram, Mohammed and Narine are additionally charged with two other men with robbing two men using personal violence and attempting to break and enter the automated banking machine (ABM) at Royal Bank of Canada on January 17. They are to reappear with their co-accused at the Mayaro Magistrates Court on March 24.
The three, along with Ramnarine, Cox and Villafana, are accused of breaking and entering RBL on March 1 and stealing the money. Juteram and Boodram are charged with receiving money knowing it to be stolen. Juteram is alleged to have received $46,800, while Boodram allegedly received $2.1 million of the loot. Police reported that around 12.30 am on March 1 they received a report from the security company which provided surveillance for the Sangre Grande branch of Republic Bank that the bank’s back door was open. The police later found the vault emptied of its contents, which had included deposit boxes and cash, including US, English, Eastern Caribbean and European Union currency.