Darren Banks charged in case of ephedrine container

In news from the courts, Darren Banks, who has an extensive rap sheet, was this morning charged with Attempted Theft and released on bail in the case of the twenty foot container at the Port Authority compound in Belize City which was loaded with ten million ephedrine pills. Banks, who was represented by attorney Dickie Bradley, pleaded not guilty to the charge. The prosecution was quick to object to bail on the grounds that an investigation into the incident is still ongoing and that there is a possibility that Banks would interfere with the witnesses. But Bradley submitted that Banks is a target for the police and that when the accused was detained on Monday, he was told his detention was related to a shooting. According to Bradley, he was assured by the police that Banks would be held for forty-eight hours and then released. But that changed when a senior police officer told the investigating officer that a charge must be found for Banks. Bradley called the charge spurious saying that the grounds for objection to bail were not enough. Magistrate Sharon Fraser agreed and offered Banks bail of six thousand dollars, which he met. He is to return to court on October twenty-ninth.

On August twenty-ninth, five armed men, entered the customs compound trying to gain access to an ephedrine container originating from Europe. Teams from the patrol branch, anti drug unit, B.D.F. and Coast guard, were deployed to the area where they found a three foot hole in the chain link fence and that the padlock to the container was broken but nothing was missing. Banks’ rap sheet includes charges of Murder, Drug and Ammunition Possession, and Shooting and earlier this year a scanner that picks up police frequency was found at his home.