Accused gangster cops pointed out at ID parade

Livern Barrett/Senior Staff Reporter

Two police constables who were taken into custody last Friday on suspicion that they are part of a criminal gang based in Clarendon have been identified by a witness, their attorney has confirmed.

Their names are being withheld because they have not been formally charged with any crime.

But Vincent Wellesley, the lawyer for both cops, says he expects that his clients will soon face criminal charges.

He declined to discuss the possible charges.

“They were pointed out,” he said of the identification parade conducted in Kingston today.

The two cops were among four police constables and eight civilians who were arrested almost one week ago in a series of coordinated operations for allegedly being part of the Ranko Gang.

The gang has so far been linked to 17 crimes, including robberies and shootings, across eight parishes, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police Anthony McLaughlin, who heads the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Division.

One of the constables, believed to be the son of a high-ranking police officer, has already been released, his attorney Oswest Senior Smith confirmed.

Senior Smith told The Gleaner today that he has not been able to "secure anything in writing" from the police setting out the allegations against his client.

The police have said the cop was released because a witness has refused to cooperate.

The attorney said investigators have indicated that they want to conduct a question-and-answer session with his client “probably in another couple of weeks or so”.

“It sounds more like an exit interview, if you ask me,” he said.

Another constable suspected of being part of the gang fled the island and remains on the run, police officials have confirmed.

A civilian who turned himself in to police investigators on Saturday was released yesterday, law enforcement sources have confirmed.

Constable Tafari Silvera, the alleged gang leader, has been jailed since last June when he was arrested in full uniform in front of stunned colleagues at the Hunts Bay Police Station, in St Andrew, The Gleaner first reported.

Silvera and two civilians, Mark Bennett and Christopher Robinson, are awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to murder for allegedly plotting to kill a “potential witness” in a criminal case.

Robinson and Bennett were apprehended and another member of the gang was shot and killed during a police operation that foiled the alleged plot.

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