4 charged for $5M Piarco heist

UPDATED:

Three men and a woman are to appear before an Arima magistrate on Monday charged in connection with the $5 million heist at Piarco International Airport on December 6.

The accused are Kizzy Bernard, Kenol Singh, 35, both of Longdenville, Kevon Findley, 42, and Abdul Mohammed, 38, who are both from Diego Martin.

The Police Service in its latest Twitter updates report Bernard is charged with money laundering and receiving stolen money. Singh is charged with money laundering, as well as robbery with aggravation. Findlay and Mohammed are charged with robbery with aggravation. They are separately charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul advised the police to charge the four suspects on Saturday evening, and not DPP Roger Gaspard as previously reported.

ASP Mervyn Edwards laid the charges. Last Friday, a High Court judge approved the continued detention in police custody of a suspect in the case.

On December 6, just before midday, four masked men slipped past the gates of the docking area of the airport, held security at gunpoint, stole an estimated $5.5 million, and escaped in a black Toyota Hilux. The money was being sent to Tobago branches of First Citizens Bank.

The investigation into the heist was led by DCP Crime Harold Phillip and coordinated by head of the CID Snr Supt Ajith Persad. Also involved in the investigation were ACP Radcliff Boxhill,  And Supt Daniel, Inspector Birch, Sgt Williams, Col Pinder and Edwards.