The Mahebourg and Port-Louis courts granted the request of the lawyers for Akil Bissessur, Avinash Bissesur, Doomila Moheeputh and Jean Jolicoeur to be released on bail on Monday June 26. The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) did not object. The four defendants were arrested by officers from the Special Striking Team (SST) at police headquarters.
Lawyer Akil Bissessur had to pay a bail of Rs 50,000, his brother Avinash a bail of Rs 45,000 and Doomila Moheeputh a bail of Rs 40,000. As for Raquel Jolicoeur, lead singer of the group 666 Armada, the court imposed two sureties of Rs 300,000 and an IOU of Rs 5 million. Unable to pay the sureties on Monday June 26, he remained in detention. Raquel Jolicoeur had been arrested on May 2, 2022 at her home in Roche-Bois during a raid by SST men on five charges. On April 10 of that year, the court granted him parole on only three of the five charges, namely terrorism, possession of an offensive weapon and money laundering. He had been kept in a cell for the provisional charge of drug trafficking and explosive possession.
Lawyer Akil Bissessur, his brother Avinash and his partner Doomila Moheeputh had been arrested on Tuesday June 20 in the wake of a Controlled Delivery operation carried out by the SST at Dreamton Park in Quatre Bornes. A parcel from Germany containing 1,022 ecstasy tablets was addressed to Akil Bissessur. Bissessur had been called by a security guard stationed in the grounds of the apartments where he lives to pick up the delivery, which a letter carrier had come to deliver.
Akil Bissessur made a live video of the delivery, which he suspected had been sent to frame him. Even though he had refused to take the delivery, as he hadn’t ordered anything, two SST police officers came to arrest him.
Akil Bissessur is also accused of having conspired with Avinash Bissessur and Doomila Moheeputh in May this year to import 1022 ecstasy tablets. The package arrived in Mauritius on Friday June 16 on British Airways flight BA 2065.
