According to Judicial Scoop, a Gun Court Judge on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, remanded an American businessman, whom the police alleged purchased five of the weapons the police seized in a massive gun find in a warehouse at the Kingston wharf in March last year. He will remain in custody until November 23, 2023, when his attorney makes a bail application in the Gun Court.
The police named the accused Fitzroy Johnson, age 32, a businessman residing in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The police arrested him at the Norman Manley International Airport upon his arrival on the island on November 3.
The police charged Johnson with conspiracy to import guns illegally and conspiracy to import ammunition illegally. He is the third foreigner the authorities arrested in the illegal gun find, in which the police also seized 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
According to investigators, Johnson had entered into an arrangement and paid for five of the illegal guns.
On Monday, November 13, 2023, when Johnson appeared in court, his lawyer, Kemar Robinson, requested November 23, 2023, for a bail hearing. The judge subsequently remanded the accused in custody until December 14, 2023.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s four other co-accused, including the alleged mastermind and the other two foreigners, had their bails extended to return to court on December 14 for a plea and case management hearing.
The court cleared May 13, 2024, as the trial date.
Godfrey Martin, otherwise called ‘Rev’, a St Elizabeth businessman who was the alleged mastermind, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to import guns illegally and conspiracy to import ammunition illegally.
Sherilyn McLean, the girlfriend of the 51-year-old businessman, was also charged in the matter.
Similarly charged are two United States nationals – Jermaine Baker, a 36-year-old chef from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and 42-year-old Dervan Brown, a construction worker from the Bronx, New York. Brown was shot and killed in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on November 6.
The police charged the four men following the illegal gun and ammunition bust on March 4, 2022. Three rifles, 18 handguns, and 2,216 rounds of ammunition were discovered after customs officers detected a suspicious package and summoned the Contraband Enforcement Team.