It is one of the more notable ironies of a justice system fraught with them, that some of the money that caused three men to be before the courts in the first place has been found to be fraudulent.

Not that the $800,000 taken from Anthony Barrett, Dushane Sweeney and Dalton Thomas in 2006 had any fraudulent notes. They were, however, charged with unlawful possession of property, the case ordered dropped by Resident Magistrate Marcia Dunbar-Green in the St Catherine Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday, as reported in yesterday's STAR.

To top it off, four cellular phones which were taken from the men are also missing.

So now that the case has been dropped and the men's money is to be returned, more than $100,000 has been found to be fraudulent, with some of the notes even being counterfeit.

This charge of unlawful possession of property seems to be a strange one in the first place. For while the police can, and sometimes do, charge individuals who they find with large sums of money in their possession with this offence, it appears to us that it can be applied with a certain subconscious social bias.

We must point out as well that the men have lost more than the shortfall in their money and the cellphones. They have lost a lot of value, as inflation has climbed significantly, and they have also lost the potential interest they would have earned.

And all, they were only trying to save up some money to buy a car.