An Ari­ma man will reap­pear be­fore a Port-of-Spain mag­is­trate to­day charged with im­port­ing a pro­hib­it­ed good af­ter he was re­mand­ed in cus­tody yes­ter­day. Joseph Bap­tiste, 57, was not called up­on to plea when he ap­peared be­fore Se­nior Mag­is­trate Gail Gon­za­les in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Mag­is­trate's Court. Joseph was ar­rest­ed by Cus­toms and Ex­cise of­fi­cers last Thurs­day aboard the boat, Elit­ta I, at Queen's Wharf, Port-of-Spain, af­ter of­fi­cers dis­cov­ered US $660,000 hid­den on board.

Joseph was charged for con­ceal­ment of a pro­hib­it­ed good with in­tent to de­ceive a cus­toms of­fi­cer af­ter he failed to de­clare the mon­ey. Pas­sen­gers ar­riv­ing and leav­ing are re­quired to de­clare to a cus­toms of­fi­cer on du­ty at the air or sea ports, all cash cur­ren­cy or mon­e­tary in­stru­ments in ex­cess of US$5,000 or TT$20,000. Cus­toms of­fi­cers brought the six brown bags con­tain­ing the mon­ey to court yes­ter­day.(ALP)