7 News Belize

Mexican Pleaded Guilty: Gets 16 Years + 200 K Fine
posted (December 5, 2011)
On Friday, we told you about the sensational news of 44 year old Mexican Martin Machado Urias who was intercepted at the Belize Mexico border with almost 300 pounds of cocaine.

The 111 bricks stamped XT were stuffed inside a hidden compartment in the camper of his trailer.

Police made the bust after an alert policed officer saw the pickup with Mexican plates on the road heading for the border. He noticed the vehicle because it had already been flagged by police in Benque Viejo some months ago. That's after Machado was observed making trips twice a month from Guatemala to Belize. After that, he would transit right through Belize, back to Mexico. Something was amiss because Machado was supposedly a shoes salesman - but only travelled with samples.

So, on Friday, police got him, just as he was heading across to Mexico. Tonight, he is at the Hattieville prison, after appearing in Corozal Magistrate's Court on Friday and pleading guilty to Drug Trafficking and Importation of Drugs.

Magistrate Clive Lino sentenced Urias to eight years in prison and fined him $100,000 for the count of drug trafficking. In default he will spend another 8 years in prison.

For the count of importation of drugs, Urias was sentenced to another 8 years in prison and also fined $100,000 or in default another 8 years in prison.

The two 8 year sentences are to run concurrently, meaning he will serve 8, not 16 years. But the default sentences for non-payment of the fines are consecutive, meaning he could serve a maximum of 24 years in prison - the fines have not been paid yet.

And with that, the security at the prison is the concern tonight. Police have sharply stepped up their presence at the Kolbe Central Prison and Press Officer Fitzroy Yearwood told us why:..

Fitzroy Yearwood, Police Press Officer
"This is a Mexican national and we are trying to trace the origin on the intended destination for these drugs. So we had to turn up our security measures. we have to bear in mind that we have other inmates at the Kolby Foundation in Hattieville. We have to take the security of the prison personnel seriously at hand so obviously we had to turn up the security at that facility."

Incredibly, four days after the bust was made, Yearwood says the actual weight has not been released to him. According to our sources it is 293 pounds; other media outlets are reporting 286 pounds. The estimated street value is 2.5 million US dollars. In other news of a significant drug bust - this morning at 1:15 in Roaring Creek police set up a checkpoint and intercepted a 1997 gold Geo Prism taxi cab - which was driven at the time by 28 year old Edwin Henry- a taxi driver of Caye Caulker. A search resulted in the discovery of 56.8 pounds of marijuana. Present at the time of the search were 21 year old Perisa Aldana of Caye Caulker and 18 year old Ernesto Williams of Partridge Street in Belize City. All three were arrested and charged with drug trafficking.

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