By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
TWO PERSONS, charged with unlawful possession after failing to account to the police for US$197,000 in their possession, were granted bail on their second appearance in court yesterday.
Robert Phang, 35, and Jacque-line Hall, 40, were held at the Sangster International Airport on Friday. The two, both American residents with Jamaican connections, were given half-a-million dollars bail each with surety.
Phang and Hall first appeared on Monday before Montego Bay Resident Magistrate Valerie Stephens, who had put off a decision on bail to yesterday after applications by the couple's lawyers.
MOVEMENT CURTAILED
They were ordered to surrender their travel documents, to take up residence at 4 Fern Crescent in Black River, and report to the Black River police every Wednesday between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Additionally, RM Stephens ruled that stop orders be placed against them at all ports.
The two are due back in court on February 27 when a hearing will be held into the charges of unlawful possession of property.
The bail applications were made on their behalf by attorneys-at-law Hugh Thompson and Albert Morgan.
Mr. Morgan, who is representing Ms. Hall, had asked the court that his client be allowed to leave the island to take care of her 15-year-old daughter who lives in New York, but that request was denied.
AROUSED SUSPICION
The police are alleging that the couple was seen acting suspiciously while at the airport on Friday and that when trailed and interviewed, the money was found in bags they had intended to check in for a flight out of the island.
Phang, the father of two, has links to Black River and is a part time student in New York. Hall is a 40-year-old airline clerk of Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.
The money has an equivalent Jamaican dollar value of over $11 million.
The court heard on Monday that the police were making security checks at the airport when the couple was seen arriving with luggage.
It is alleged that when they saw the police in the airport terminal, they went back to the parking lot and the police followed. They were seen putting the luggage in a car and walking away from it when the cops stopped them, according to the allegations before the court.
