Two foreign nationals have been accused in court of spreading false information — believed to be linked to reports of a rattlesnake that resulted in weeks of searches.

Victor Bahia, 32, and Alvaro Cro, 55, appeared in Magistrates’ Court this morning to answer separate charges with the help of a Portuguese translator.

Mr Bahia, from Sandys, pleaded not guilty to transmitting a message through electronic communications that he knew to be false on June 26.

Meanwhile, Mr Cro, from Southampton, pleaded not guilty to making a false statement to a detective constable that he knew to be false on July 30.

The pair were given the option to have their cases heard in Magistrates’ Court or the Supreme Court. Both men elected to have their cases heard in the lower court.

Magistrate Tyrone Chin adjourned the case until September 21.

He released Mr Cro, originally from the Azores, on $5,000 bail and ordered him to report to the Hamilton Police Station once a week.

Mr Chin also released Mr Bahia, a Brazilian national, on $5,000, but tied two sureties to his bail amount.

He ordered Mr Bahia to continue residing at his Sandys home, report to the Hamilton Police Station twice a week and to surrender his travel documents.

In a statement this morning, the Department of Public Prosecutions said the charge against Mr Bahia concerned the distribution of an image that became the subject of “great national concern,” contrary to section 66 of the Electronic Communications Act.

While the statement did not reference the report of a rattlesnake, it is understood that is what the case relates to.

The DPP’s statement acknowledged the “thorough investigation carried out by the Bermuda Police Service”.

It added: “Members of the public are urged to be responsible when sharing information with each other and the Department of Public Prosecutions remains committed to its mandate to provide Bermuda with an independent, efficient and effective prosecution service and stands ready to prosecute allegations of mischievous misuse of electronic communications where it is in the public interest to do so.”

Jaché Adams, the Minister of Public Works and Environment, said this month that about $50,000 was spent by the Government in efforts to locate the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which was reported to have been seen in the Gibbs Hill area on June 26.

Teams from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo, and other island organisations, as well as specialists from the US-based National Canine Facility, searched within about a mile of that location for the reptile.

The environment ministry said last month that “no physical evidence, including a snake, shed skin, tracks or scent, was identified” during the searches.

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