Thu | Nov 30, 2023

Bail hearing for alleged Ranko Gang members put off until next year

Published:Wednesday | November 23, 2022 | 6:57 PM

Reputed leader of the Clarendon-based Ranko Gang, Constable Tafari Silvera, and eight alleged cronies were remanded until February 2 next year, after their bail hearing failed to get under way in the Home Circuit Court on Wednesday. 

When the case was mentioned, the judge was informed that two of the defendants were without lawyers. 

Consequently, the hearing was postponed for them to obtain legal representation. 

Silvera, who is accused of hiring two hitmen to murder a police informant, is among four cops implicated in the matter. 

They were arrested in March after they were accused of being part of the 27-member gang. 

Silvera and two civilians, Christopher Robinson and Mark Bennett, are also before the Home Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to murder. They were arrested in relation to a plot to kill an alleged crony who was accused of being a police informant. 

The Ranko Gang, which has been linked to 17 incidents, is alleged to have been involved in shootings, burglaries, robberies, illegal possession of firearm, shop breaking, conspiracy to murder, and abduction. 

The offences were allegedly carried out in Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth, St Catherine, St Mary, Trelawny, Kingston, St Andrew and St James, between 2019 and 2021.

- Tanesha Mundle

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