A SOUTH AFRICAN national and his Brazilian wife were yesterday denied bail and remanded into prison custody after they appeared in the Port of Spain Magistrates' Court charged with possession of arms and ammunition.

The couple – Stephen Clarke-Gray, 58 and Renata Clarke-Gray, 33, appeared before Magistrate Christine Charles charged with being in possession of 74 rounds of assorted ammunition, a .44 Remmington firearm, a miniature cannon, 194 musket balls and 940 grammes of gun powder.

They were both arrested early Thursday morning aboard a yacht at Scotland Bay, Chaguaramas by officers of the Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau (OCNFB), Marine Interdiction Unit (MIU) and Customs and Excise Division.

In addition to the possession charges, Stephen Clarke-Gray, the captain of the yacht, faced two further charges of making a false declaration to Customs officials and the illegal importation of the items into this country on November 16, last year.

In his bail application, defence attorney John Heath told the magistrate that his clients were sailing from Brazil to South Africa to pick up residents "but made a stop in our waters".

He said, neither of his clients had any convictions or criminal offences pending either in this country or abroad, adding that they had friends in Trinidad willing to act as their surety should bail be granted.

"I could assure the court that they would not flee if granted bail as the yacht and their travel documents have been seized," said Heath.

However, the prosecutor objected to bail, stating that criminal background tracing had not been obtained in order to prove that the couple had no criminal convictions.

The matter was transferred to the Fourth (B) Court and will continue on Monday.