MoBay businessman gets Oct 8 trial date
WESTERN BUREAU – Prominent Montego Bay businessman Osmond Erskine, who was charged last month for unlawful possession of US$231,000, is to stand trial on October 8.
The trial date was set on Monday, when the 54 year-old businessman appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Criminal Court.
Erskine had earlier pleaded not guilty to the charge and was subsequently granted bail.
As a condition of bail, Erskine has been ordered to report to the Narcotics Police in Kingston two times per week.
e businessman, who unsuccessfully contested the 2003 local government poll in the Flankers Division of the St James Parish Council on a People’s National Party ticket, is the owner of several sporting goods stores in western Jamaica.
Narcotics police arrested him in August, as he tried to board a Panama-bound flight at the Norman Manley International Airport. The police said they became suspicious and searched Erskine after they noticed bulges in his pockets and waist.
During the search, cops said, some of the money was found strapped to the businessman’s waist and pockets.
A quantity of the cash was also found in a briefcase which he was carrying, the police said.
According to police reports, Erskine told cops that he was headed for Panama, where he intended to purchase goods for his stores. However, he was taken into custody because he could not give a satisfactory account of how he came by the money, the lawmen said.