Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
After being detained a month ago on Preventive Detention Orders (PDOs), two men accused of flying drones into prisons were charged on Saturday and are to appear in court virtually today.
The men, Verrell Johnson and Johnathan David Albert, were identified in their PDOs as “main participants in an organised criminal enterprise involving the smuggling of contraband into a correctional facility.”
The men were charged under Section 8(1) B of the Emergency Powers Regulations, 2026, which speaks to the illegality of prohibited articles in a prison.
Defence attorney Steffon Boodooram, who is representing Albert, said the month-long delay between the detention of his client and the charges is a breach of his constitutional rights.
“The continued use of such orders in these circumstances amounts to an unnecessary and disproportionate infringement of his constitutional right to personal liberty. Preventive Detention Orders are exceptional measures and should not be used in a manner that undermines the presumption of innocence or erodes the constitutional rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen.”
The duo is alleged to have used the drones to smuggle mobile phones, chargers, cigarettes, illegal narcotics, lighters and improvised weapons into a correctional facility.
A PDO was ordered for them as it was deemed necessary to disrupt plans to smuggle the prohibited articles into the prison and to prevent them from acting in a manner prejudicial to public safety.
