A man who ap­peared in court to­day charged with im­port­ing high-pow­ered firearms and ac­ces­sories at a ware­house in Cen­tral Trinidad has been de­nied bail.

Shaquille Joseph, 26, a welder from Ch­agua­nas, was ar­rest­ed on De­cem­ber 29 by of­fi­cers of the Cus­toms and Ex­cise Di­vi­sion.

He ap­peared be­fore a Cou­va mag­is­trate charged with the of­fence of im­port­ing re­strict­ed goods in­to Trinidad and To­ba­go, in­clud­ing nine high-pow­ered ri­fles, 23 mag­a­zines of 5.56 am­mu­ni­tion, three ri­fle bar­rels, one si­lencer, one dou­ble-bar­rel drum and oth­er firearm ac­ces­sories.

He was al­so charged with hav­ing these goods packed in a man­ner to de­ceive Cus­toms of­fi­cers as they were con­cealed in a weld­ed met­al work­sta­tion that had a false com­part­ment.

Both charges were laid in­dictably and as such, Mr Joseph was not called up­on to en­ter a plea.

He was de­nied bail and re­mand­ed in­to cus­tody and will reap­pear be­fore the court on Jan­u­ary 31.

Joseph was rep­re­sent­ed by Tara­dath Singh while Se­nior State Coun­sel Shirley Shep­pard rep­re­sent­ed the Cus­toms and Ex­cise Di­vi­sion.