High Court Refuses Bail For Alleged Drug Trafficker Christopher Carelse In R18m Cocaine Case

Alleged drug trafficker Christopher Carelse will remain behind bars after the Western Cape High Court dismissed his bid for bail this week.

Carelse, 38, stands accused alongside suspended Standard Bank manager Raed Cupido after police uncovered 15 bricks of cocaine worth an estimated R18 million, as well as an arsenal of weapons, in a storage unit in Roeland Street, Cape Town.

The case, regarded as a Schedule 5 offence, is currently before the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. Both men face charges relating to drug trafficking and the possession of undocumented firearms.

Judge Says Bail Bid Failed to Address Merits

High Court Judge Derek Wille upheld the lower court’s initial decision to refuse bail, ruling that he could not find fault with the magistrate’s assessment of Carelse’s circumstances versus the severity of the charges and public interest.

The judge also stated that Carelse made a “conscious and deliberate decision” not to address the merits of the case against him.

The magistrate’s ruling, Judge Wille said, “was correctly based on a cumulative analysis of the evidence (which was not wrong)”. Evidence presented at earlier bail proceedings included video footage, firearm links and forensic material allegedly tying both men to the drugs and weapons discovered.

Carelse argued that without access to the police docket, he could not respond to the allegations. Judge Wille rejected this, saying, “I say so because he knows he is facing serious charges, and yet he relies solely on his personal circumstances in his attempt to secure his release on bail, without offering a single explanation regarding the merits of the charges against him.”

The judge also dismissed Carelse’s claim that the evidence linking him to the offences was weak, stating, “Again, this is challenging to understand. To aver that the prima facie evidence against him is tenuous is incorrect. This is especially so in the context of Carelse’s decision not to take the court into his confidence regarding the merits of the allegations against him.”

State Links Accused to International Cartels

Carelse, who earned a monthly managerial salary of R76,000, told the court he has been employed in management for 14 years, lives with his partner in Cape Town, owns property in Gauteng, and is a father to a minor child.

According to the State, Carelse and Cupido acted as “first receivers” of drugs being channelled into South Africa and were linked to several international cartels, as per the investigating officer’s testimony.

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The lower court also heard allegations that the pair were pressured by an officer and former employee of alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield and his wife Nicole Johnson to admit ownership of the drugs.

Carelse, currently a manager at Shell Downstream SA, maintains that he was not present at the storage unit when the cocaine, firearms and ammunition were discovered.

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