'Cocaine' banker bail bid denied amid drug charges
Suspended senior bank manager Raed Cupido.
Image: Supplied
‘Cocaine banker’ Raed Cupido was denied bail again at the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Friday.
Cupido was back in court after he was arrested in June with 15 bricks of cocaine worth an estimated street value of R18 million, an AK-103 Rifle, Uzi Pro Rifle, five semi-automatic firearms and 130 rounds of ammunition inside a storage unit in Roeland Street.
Cupido rented unit 869 while his co-accused Christopher Carelse rented unit 868, which are located next to each other.
In his new application brought on October 10, he stated that the search of the unit was done without a search warrant as the search of unit 868 was unlawful and therefore the state has no case and he should be granted bail.
He further alleged that police had prior information that the drugs were stored in the unit rented by him (unit 869 not unit 868).
He said: “SAPS had received prior information pertaining to the alleged crime some days before my arrest and in fact kept surveillance of the premises for 6 days.
“The failure of SAPS to obtain a search warrant prior to the search of unit 868 infringed my constitutional right to privacy and property and was unlawful.
“A search warrant, if obtained prior to the search, would have allowed SAPS to access unit 869, as this would have been the unit that would have been identified as the one in which the alleged items would likely be stored.”
However, the magistrate dismissed his application saying that he failed to provide new facts.
Cupido and Carelse remain in custody and the case was postponed to November 14 for finalisation of the investigation.